Japanese Market Tumbles On US Inflation Data

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is tumbling on Wednesday, giving up most of the gains in the previous four sessions, with the Nikkei 225 falling more than 600 points to below the 28,000 mark, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, with weakness across all sectors as after higher-than-expected U.S. inflation data raised concerns the Fed will even more aggressively hike interest rate at its upcoming policy meeting next week.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 635.58 points or 2.22 percent at 27,979.05, after hitting a low of 27,795.64 earlier. Japanese stocks closed modestly higher on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 4 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down almost 3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.4 percent and Toyota is losing almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is losing more than 2 percent, Advantest is declining almost 4 percent and Tokyo Electron is down more than 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is flat, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are edging down 0.4 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Sony is slipping more than 3 percent and Canon is edging down 0.4 percent, while Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric are losing more than 2 percent each.

Among the other major losers, Keyence is plunging almost 5 percent and Omron is losing more than 4 percent, while Recruit Holdings, TDK, Pacific Metals, NEXON, Ebara, Fanuc and Sumitomo Metal Mining are declining almost 4 percent each. Trend Micro and Minebea Mitsumi are down more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no major gainers.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 144 yen-range on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading session on Tuesday, largely offsetting the recent recovery rally. The major averages all showed substantial moves to the downside, snapping a four-session winning streak.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the close but still posted steep losses on the day. The Dow plunged 1,276.37 points or 3.9 percent to 31,104.97, the Nasdaq dove 632.84 points or 5.2 percent to 11,633.57 and the S&P 500 plummeted 177.72 points or 4.3 percent to 3,932.69.

The major European markets also moved sharply lower following the U.S. inflation report. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slumped 1.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 1.4 and the German DAX Index dove by 1.6 percent.

Crude oil futures snapped a three-session winning streak and ended lower on Tuesday after hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data raised concerns the Fed will aggressively hike interest rate. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended lower by $0.47 or about o.5% at $87.31 a barrel, coming off a high of $89.31 a barrel.