China: Asian Markets Retreat After Oil Prices Fall Again

Asian stock markets retreated on Tuesday, snapping a two-day winning streak, following the weak cues overnight from Wall Street and the pullback in oil prices. Investors as well treaded cautiously ahead of monetary policy statements by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan later in the week.

The Japanese market is notably lower, with the negative lead from Wall Street and the fall in oil prices denting risk appetite. Additionally, a stronger yen hurt exporters' stocks.

In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is declining 319.08 points or 1.86 % to 16,791.83, off a low of 16,683.64 in early trades.

Exporters are lower on a stronger yen. Sony is down almost 3 %, Toshiba is losing almost 4 %, Canon is lower by 2 % and Casio Computer is declining almost 2 %. Sharp is edging down less than 1 % and Panasonic is down almost 3 %.

Market heavyweight Fast Retailing is declining additional than 2 % and SoftBank is lower by 4 %. In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing additional than 3 %.

Oil stock Inpex is lower by 4 % and JX Holdings is declining almost 2 % following the slide in crude oil prices.

Part the major gainers, Sumitomo Osaka Cement is gaining almost 4 %. Meanwhile, Unitika is losing 6 %, while IGC Corp. and Marui Group are declining additional than 4 % each.

In economic news, the Bank of Japan said that producer prices in Japan were up 0.4 % on year in December. That exceeded forecasts for an increase of 0.2 %, which would have been unchanged from the November reading. On a monthly basis, prices ticked up 0.1 % following the 0.2 % gain in the previous month.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 118 yen-range on Tuesday, down from Monday's close in the mid 118-yen range in Tokyo.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong is losing almost 2 %, while Shanghai, South Korea and Taiwan are down additional than 1 % each, and Singapore is declining 0.5 %. New Zealand, Indonesia and Malaysia are as well in negative territory. The markets in Australia and India are closed on Tuesday for public holidays.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower on Monday following a sharp pullback in the price of crude oil. The sell-off may have been exaggerated by light trading activity, however, as some traders remained on the sidelines amid a lack of major U.S. economic data on the day.

The Dow slumped 208.29 points or 1.3 % to 15,885.22, the Nasdaq plunged 72.69 points or 1.6 % to 4,518.49 and the S&P 500 dove 29.82 points or 1.6 % to 1,877.08.

The major European markets ended Monday in the red. While the French CAC 40 Index dropped by 0.6 %, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index fell by 0.4 % and 0.3 %, respectively.

Crude oil prices tumbled Monday, giving back most of their large gains from the previous two session. WTI oil for March delivery tumbled $1.85 or 5.8 % to $30.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.