The Japanese stock market experienced a significant decline on Tuesday, marking the continuation of losses seen over the past two sessions. Influenced by mixed signals from Wall Street, the Nikkei 225 index experienced a downward trend, maintaining a position slightly above the 38,100 mark. This decline was propelled by sector-wide weaknesses, particularly in index heavyweights and technology stocks. Financial stocks, however, presented a positive anomaly amid the downturn.
The Nikkei 225 benchmark index fell by 463.34 points, or 1.17 percent, positioning it at 39,102.46 after an early dip to 38,886.05. Monday likewise ended with substantial losses for Japanese equities.
Key players like SoftBank Group saw nearly a 6 percent decrease, while Fast Retailing, the operator of Uniqlo, showed a marginal increase of 0.2 percent. In the automotive sector, Honda and Toyota both registered slight declines of 0.5 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.
The technology sector was hit hard, with Advantest diving over 9 percent, Tokyo Electron shedding more than 5 percent, and Screen Holdings slipping by 3.5 percent.
Conversely, the banking sector showed resilience, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial rising over 1 percent, Mizuho Financial close to a 2 percent increase, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial gaining more than 1 percent.
Exporters faced a downward trend with Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric both dropping over 1 percent, and Canon reducing by nearly 1 percent. Sony, however, saw a slight rise of 0.3 percent.
Other notable declines included Japan Steel Works, which plunged over 9 percent, and Furukawa Electric and Fujikura each dropping over 7 percent. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was down nearly 7 percent, Disco by more than 6 percent, and both Fuji Electric and Socionext fell by almost 6 percent. Resonac Holdings and Hitachi decreased over 4 percent, along with a near 5 percent decline for NTT Data Group, and a fall of more than 4 percent for Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Sumitomo Electric Industries.
On the positive side, Hitachi Construction Machinery surged nearly 7 percent, while Keisei Electric Railway and Kubota each advanced by more than 3 percent. Nitori Holdings and Mitsui Fudosan also gained almost 3 percent each.
In foreign exchange, the U.S. dollar traded in the lower 155 yen range on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, Monday closed with the majority of stocks declining, especially in the technology sector, which suffered considerable losses due to persistent selling pressure throughout the day.
Among the major indices, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 289.33 points, or 0.65 percent, settling at 44,713.58. The S&P 500 saw a downturn of 88.96 points, or 1.46 percent, ending at 6,012.28, while the Nasdaq Composite decreased by 612.47 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.83.
European markets presented a mixed picture: Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 decreased by 0.53 percent and 0.27 percent, respectively, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up a modest 0.02 percent.
Crude oil prices dropped significantly on Monday due to uncertainties surrounding tariff threats and U.S. trade policies. Weaker manufacturing data from China also fueled concerns over future demand. Consequently, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March fell by $1.49, or 2 percent, closing at $73.17 per barrel.