TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is declining on Tuesday following the weak cues overnight from Wall Street after crude oil futures turned negative for the first time ever and on lingering worries about the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 227.84 points or 1.16 percent to 19,441.28, after touching a low of 19,353.99 in early trades. Japanese shares closed lower on Monday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank is declining more than 1 percent and Fast Retailing is lower by almost 2 percent.
The major exporters are mixed on a stronger yen. Sony is adding 0.4 percent and Panasonic is edging up 0.1 percent, while Canon is declining more than 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is down 0.7 percent.
In the tech space, Tokyo Electron is losing almost 2 percent and Advantest is unchanged. Among automakers, Honda is declining almost 2 percent and Toyota is edging up 0.1 percent.
In the oil sector, Japan Petroleum is adding 0.2 percent while Inpex is lower by 0.4 percent after crude oil futures turned negative overnight for the first time ever.
ANA Holdings has slashed its earnings outlook for the 2019 business year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Shares of the operator of All Nippon Airways are adding 0.5 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Takara Holdings is rising more than 4 percent while Takeda Pharmaceutical and Meiji Holdings are advancing almost 2 percent each.
Conversely, JGC Holdings is losing more than 4 percent, while Yamaha Corp. and Sompo Holdings are lower by almost 4 percent each. Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Japan Steel Works, Toyota Tsusho Corp. and Hino Motors are declining more than 3 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 107 yen-range on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed lower on Monday as traders cashed in on last week's gains amid lingering concerns about the economic impact of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. An historic drop by the price of crude oil also weighed on the markets, with a crude futures contract turning negative for the first time ever.
The Dow plunged 592.05 points or 2.4 percent to 23,650.44, the Nasdaq slumped 89.41 points or 1 percent to 8,560.73 and the S&P 500 tumbled 51.40 points or 1.8 percent to 2,823.16.
The major European markets all moved to the upside on Monday. While the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.7 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both climbed by 0.5 percent.
Crude oil prices saw an historic plunge on Monday, and with no one to buy the contract, WTI crude futures for May tumbled below zero. Crude for May delivery plummeted $55.90 to a negative $37.63 a barrel, while the more actively traded crude for June delivery plunged $4.60 or about 18.4 percent to $20.43 a barrel.
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