Japanese Market Plunges Nearly 3%

(RTTNews) - Extending the sharp losses in the previous session, the Japanese market is trading sharply lower on Thursday, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight. The Nikkei 225 is plunging nearly 3 percent to a tad near the 38,000 mark, with strong losses across most sectors led by index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is plunging 1,143.62 points or 2.92 percent to 38,011.23, after hitting a low of 37,689.18 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is plunging more than 7 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is declining almost 2 percent and Honda is losing almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is plunging more than 7 percent, Tokyo Electron is declining 4.5 percent and Screen Holdings is slipping more than 5 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are losing more than 2 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is declining 1.5 percent.

Among the major exporters, Canon is losing more than 1 percent and Panasonic is slipping almost 2 , while Sony and Mitsubishi Electric are declining more than 4 percent each.

Among other major gainers, Renesas Electronics is plummeting more than 11 percent, Kawasaki Heavy Industries is plunging almost 8 percent and Hitachi is slipping more than 7 percent, while Recruit Holdings, Disco, Isetan Mitsukoshi and IHI are sliding more than 6 percent each. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Ebara are losing almost 6 percent each, while Mitsui Mining & Smelting is declining more than 5 percent. Tokio Marine and Japan Steel Works are down almost 5 percent each.

Conversely, Sapporo Holdings and Nitori Holdings are gaining almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, Services producer prices in Japan were up 3.0 percent on year in June, the Bank of Japan said on Thursday - accelerating from the upwardly revised 2.7 percent increase in May (originally 2.5 percent). On a monthly basis, producer prices were flat for a second straight month. Excluding international transportation, services producer prices were also flat on month and up 3.0 percent on year.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 153 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a more substantial move to the downside during trading on Wednesday, after ending yesterday's choppy trading session modestly lower. The tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a particularly steep drop on the day, tumbling to its lowest closing level in over a month.

The major averages saw further downside late in the session, closing near their worst levels of the day. The Nasdaq plunged 654.94 points or 3.6 percent to 17,342.41, the S&P 500 dove 128.61 points or 2.3 percent to 5,427.13 and the Dow slumped 504.22 points or 1.3 percent to 39,853.87

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 1.1 percent, the German DAX Index slid by 0.9 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Wednesday after data showed an unexpected drop in U.S. crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended up $0.63 or 0.81 percent at $77.59 a barrel, snapping a three-day losing streak.