Japanese Stocks Slide Sharply as Nikkei 225 Drops 2.4%

what happened

Japanese equities were sharply lower on Tuesday after Wall Street delivered mixed signals overnight. According to dpa-AFX, the Nikkei 225 fell 1,653.69 points, or 2.40%, to 67,377.23, after touching 67,351.76 earlier. The decline extended losses from the previous three sessions; shares had closed slightly lower on Friday before Monday’s holiday.

SoftBank Group was down almost 9%, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing gained almost 2%. Honda rose nearly 1% and Toyota added almost 2%. In technology, Advantest declined almost 5%, while Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron each lost almost 6%. Kioxia Holdings plunged almost 12% and Taiyo Yuden fell more than 8%. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial advanced almost 2% each, while Mizuho Financial gained more than 1%.

The Bank of Japan said producer prices fell 0.3% month on month in September on a seasonally adjusted basis, missing expectations for a 0.5% increase after a revised 0.3% contraction in August. Producer prices rose 6.8% year on year, below the 7.6% forecast. Total bank lending increased 5.3% from a year earlier to 681.974 trillion yen, missing the 5.5% estimate; third-quarter lending growth was 5.4%.

The U.S. dollar traded in the lower 158-yen range on Tuesday. On Monday, the Dow Jones rose 0.4%, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.1% and the Nasdaq fell 0.4%. European markets advanced. WTI crude for November delivery climbed 2.6% to $94.27 a barrel after fresh attacks by Iran-backed Houthi militants on Saudi Arabia’s aviation infrastructure.

why it matters

Technology shares are weighing on the Nikkei despite gains among automakers and banks. The weaker-than-expected producer-price and lending figures add a softer domestic macro signal, while the oil rally highlights geopolitical risk and may affect inflation expectations across markets.

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