(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is down sharply in the red with participants indulging in heavy selling across the board on the back of a setback suffered by stocks on Wall Street amid some disappointing economic news last Friday. A stronger yen is also contributing significantly to the decline in Tokyo.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which tumbled to around 9,736, is currently trading at 9,768, down 266.7 points, or 2.65%, from its previous close.

Shares of Panasonic Corp. declined with concerns about the yen’s appreciation and sluggish U.S. stocks outweighing optimism over the firm’s earnings upgrade on Friday. The stock is trading lower by over 2%.

U.S. moneylender CIT Group Inc.’s filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection has triggered some selling in Japanese bank stocks. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Mizuho Financial and Bank of Yokohama and Chiba Bank are trading notably lower.

Automobile stocks Toyota Motor, Honda Motor, Suzuki Motor and Mazda Motor are trading weak.

Food, chemicals, textiles and pharmaceuticals stocks are mostly trading in negative territory. Steel, non-ferrous metals, machinery and electric machinery stocks are also trading weak, with many of them posting sharp losses. Not much buying is seen in shares of trading houses, securities firms and insurance companies as well.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the upper 89-yen zone early Monday in Tokyo, down from its Friday’s quotes in New York. In early trades, the dollar fetched 89.71-89.72 yen against Friday’s close of 91.09-91.12 yen in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 89.91 to the U.S. dollar.

Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia is down sharply. New Zealand, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan are also trading with notable losses. On Friday, markets across the region had ended notably higher, wiping off some losses suffered earlier in the week.

On Wall Street, stocks declined sharply with a batch of mixed economic data raising doubts about economic recovery. Consumer sentiment in the month of October came in below the final reading for September and poor labor market conditions impacted consumer spending in September, offsetting a positive data that revealed an unexpected expansion in the Chicago-area manufacturing sector in October.

The Dow ended lower by nearly 250 points, or 2.5%, at 9,712.7, the Nasdaq fell 52.4 points, or 2.5%, to 2,045.1 and the S&P 500 closed down 29.9 points, or 2.8%, at 1,036.2.

Major European markets ended with heavy losses on Friday. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 closed down by 1.8%, while the French CAC 40 index and the German DAX index lost 2.9% and 3% respectively.

Crude oil finished sharply lower on Friday as a notable decline in equities raised concerns about the prospects for energy demand. A stronger dollar also lessened oil’s hedge appeal. Light sweet crude for December dropped to US$77 per barrel, down US$2.87 on the session.

Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia is down sharply. New Zealand, Singapore, Korea and Taiwan are also down with notable losses.

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Posted in Categories: Australia, Eurozone, Japan, New Zealand, Releases, Stocks, USA.

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