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Japanese Stocks Fall on Bond Selloff as US-Iran Conflict Fuels Rate Hike Fears; Oil Climbs

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Japanese stocks closed down on Wednesday to end in the red on a global bond selloff as a fresh escalation in the Middle East fueled inflation and rate hike fears as oil climbs.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 closed down 1,889.70 points, or 2.85%, at 64,325.64.

Oil prices climbed as fresh US-Iran escalation heightened uncertainty in the Middle East, raising energy security concerns and fears over the safety of oil transit through the Strait of Hormuz.

On the corporate side, Honda Motor (TYO:7267) will carry out cost-cutting measures amounting to 1.5 trillion yen over a four-year period to boost its competitiveness against Chinese rivals, according to media reports.

Also, SoftBank (TYO:9434) said it has partnered with LY (TYO:4689) to launch Yahoo! Smartphone Buyback, an online service allowing customers to sell their smartphones regardless of their mobile carrier in Japan, according to a Wednesday release.

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