TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is notably lower on Wednesday, giving up some of the sharp gains in the previous session, with the benchmark Nikkei index just above the 28,900 level, despite the positive cues overnight from Wall Street, as traders are cautious ahead of the general elections this weekend and announcements from the Bank of Japan's ongoing Monetary Policy Meetings.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 175.26 points or 0.60 percent at 28,930.75, after hitting a low of 28,870.25 earlier. Japanese stocks closed sharply higher on Tuesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 4 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is flat. Among automakers, Honda is losing more than 1 percent and Toyota is edging up 0.6 percent.
In the tech space, Screen Holdings is losing 1.5 percent, while Tokyo Electron and Advantest are down more than 1 percent each.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging down 0.3 percent, while Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.2 percent.
Among the major exporters, Panasonic and Sony are losing almost 3 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is down almost 1 percent and Canon is declining 6.5 percent.
Among the other major losers, Fujikura is losing more than 7 percent, Nippon Yusen K.K. is down more than 5 percent and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is down almost 5 percent, while Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and NTN are declining 4.5 percent each. Ricoh and Tokyo Electric Power are lower by almost 4 percent each, while Casio Computer and Credit Saison are down more than 3 percent each.
Conversely, Nitto Denko and Hitachi Construction Machinery are gaining more than 6 percent each, while Ajinomoto is adding 3.5 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the 114 yen-range on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, stocks pulled back well off their best levels of the day, but still managed to end Tuesday's session modestly higher. With the uptick on the day, the Dow and the S&P 500 once again reached new record closing highs.
After rising by more than 150 points to a new record intraday high, the Dow ended the day up just 15.73 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 35,756.88. The Nasdaq also crept up 9.01 points or 0.1 percent to 15,235.72, while the S&P 500 edged up 8.31 points or 0.2 percent to 4,574.79.
The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index jumped by 1 percent, the French CAC 40 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both advanced by 0.8 percent.
Crude oil futures settled higher Tuesday, recovering from early losses amid increasing signs of a supply shortage and higher demand for oil. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $0.89 or 1.1 percent at $84.65 a barrel.
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