TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is trading sharply lower on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling well below the 43,000 mark, with weakness in index heavyweights and technology stocks partially offset by gains in automakers and financial stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 573.22 or 1.32 percent at 42,973.07, after hitting a low of 42,889.86 earlier. Japanese stocks ended modestly lower on Tuesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is slipping almost 8 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is adding 1.5 percent and Toyota is gaining more than 1 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is tumbling almost 6 percent, Tokyo Electron is edging down 0.5 percent and Screen Holdings is losing almost 2 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging up 0.3 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding almost 1 percent and Mizuho Financial is gaining more than 1 percent.
Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is losing almost 3 percent and Canon is edging down 0.3 percent, while Panasonic is adding more than 1 percent and Sony is edging up 0.1 percent.
Among other major losers, Socionext is plunging almost 7 percent, while Mitsui Mining & Smelting and Fujikura are tumbling almost 6 percent each. Furukawa Electric is sliding more than 5 percent, while IHI and Ebara are declining almost 4 percent each. Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Disco are losing more than 3 percent each, while Japan Steel Works is down almost 3 percent.
Conversely, Oriental Land is surging more than 4 percent, while Shiseido and Nippon Express are advancing almost 3 percent each.
In economic news, the value of core machinery orders in Japan was up a seasonally adjusted 3.0 percent on month in June, the Cabinet Office said on Wednesday - coming in at 941.2 billion yen. That beat forecasts for a decline of 0.4 percent following the 0.6 percent drop in May.
On a yearly basis, core machinery orders climbed 7.6 percent - again exceeding expectations for an increase of 5.0 percent following the 4.4 percent gain in the previous month. For the second quarter of 2025, orders were up 0.4 percent on quarter and 6.3 percent on year; for the third quarter, orders are forecast to fall 0.4 percent on quarter and rise 5.0 percent on year.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 147 yen-range on Wednesday.
On the Wall Street, stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Tuesday after ending Monday's choppy session little changed. The tech-heavy Nasdaq posted a particularly steep loss, although the Dow ended the day roughly flat.
The Nasdaq ended the day just off its lows of the session, tumbling 314.82 points or 1.5 percent to 21,314.95. The S&P 500 also slid 37.78 points or 0.6 percent to 6,411.37. Meanwhile, the Dow inched up 10.45 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 44,922.27 after reaching a record intraday high in early trading.
Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.2 percent, the German DAX Index climbed by 0.5 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 percent.
Crude oil prices declined on Tuesday amid supply side concerns as OPEC continues to unwind 2.2 million barrels per day in voluntary cuts by its member nations. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $1.07 or 1.69 percent at $62.35 per barrel.
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