Japanese Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is modestly lower on Wednesday, extending the losses in the previous two sessions, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 26,500 level, following the mostly negative cues overnight from global markets and as traders are cautious ahead of the U.S. interest rate decision later today. The Fed is expected to hike interest rates by 50 basis points, although forecasts are suggesting a 75-bp increase.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 185.34 points or 0.70 percent at 26,444.52, after hitting a low of 26,406.27 earlier. Japanese stocks closed slightly lower on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is flat. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 1 percent and Toyota is edging up 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is losing almost 2 percent, Tokyo Electron is down almost 1 percent and Advantest is declining more than 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is edging down 0.2 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining more than 1 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is up almost 1 percent. Among the major exporters, Sony is edging down 0.5 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is declining 1.5 percent and Panasonic is edging down 0.2 percent, while Canon is edging up 0.2 percent.

Among the other major losers, Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings is losing 5.5 percent, while Inpex and Osaka Gas are declining almost 4 percent each. Konami Holdings, Takashimaya and CyberAgent are down more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no major gainers.

In economic news, the value of core machine orders in Japan spiked a seasonally adjusted 10.8 percent on month in April, the Cabinet Office said on Wednesday - coming in at 963.0 billion yen. That blew away expectations for a decline of 1.5 percent following the 7.1 percent jump in March. Ona yearly basis, core machine orders surged 19.0 percent - again topping forecasts for an increase of 5.3 percent following the 7.6 percent gain in the previous month. For the second quarter of 2022, core machine orders are forecast to sink 8.1 percent on quarter and 5.6 percent on year.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 135 yen-range on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stocks swung between gains and losses on Tuesday with investors largely making cautious moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. The Fed, which is scheduled to announce its policy on Wednesday, is widely expected to hike interest rates by 50 basis points.

Among the major averages, the Dow and the S&P 500 both extended their losses to a fifth straight session. The Dow ended the session with a loss of 151.91 points or 0.5 percent at 30,364.83, the S&P 500 ended lower by 14.15 points or 0.38 percent at 3,735.48 and the Nasdaq settled at 10,828.35, gaining 19.12 points or 0.18 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. Germany's DAX fell 0.91 percent, France's CAC 40 drifted down 1.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 shed 0.25 percent.

Crude oil futures drifted lower Tuesday on reports of a likely proposal to impose a federal surtax on oil companies to curb rising inflation. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended lower by $2.00 or 1.7 percent at $118.93 a barrel.