This file photo shows the Tokyo Stock Exchange. (Mainichi)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Tokyo stocks ended sharply lower Wednesday, led by weak technology issues on fears over a possible early U.S. interest rate hike following Jerome Powell's nomination as chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve for a second four-year term.

       The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 471.45 points, or 1.58 percent, from Monday at 29,302.66. Japanese financial markets were closed Tuesday for a national holiday. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange finished 23.70 points, or 1.16 percent, lower at 2,019.12.

       Decliners were led by precision instrument, electric appliance and service issues.

       The U.S. dollar took a breather in Tokyo trading, moving around the 115 yen line after climbing to the lower 115 yen range the previous day for the first time since March 2017 on Powell's renomination.

       President Joe Biden said Monday he plans to keep Powell as fed chair for a second term as the country battles the coronavirus and inflation, and name Lael Brainard, who had been a leading candidate to replace Powell, to the post of Fed vice chair.

       As the Tokyo stock market resumed trading after the holiday, high-tech issues extended their earlier losses to lead the market down.

       "Some investors who expected Brainard to be next Fed chair unloaded shares" as financial markets had viewed her as likely to keep interest rates low to support the economy and job growth, said Makoto Sengoku, senior equity market analyst at the Tokai Tokyo Research Institute.

       "Excessive selling in the technology sector hurt sentiment on concerns that the sector may remain weak for a long time amid higher rates," Sengoku said.

       Among chip-related firm, Tokyo Electron sagged 1,130 yen, or 1.8 percent, to 61,910 yen, Screen Holdings lost 370 yen, or 3.1 percent, to 11,710 yen, and Advantest sank 430 yen, or 4.1 percent, to 10,100 yen.

       The energy sector rose on higher U.S. crude oil futures as Washington's plan to release 50 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves with other consumer nations was smaller in scale than expected, brokers said.

       Oil explorer Inpex advanced 35 yen, or 3.8 percent, to 955 yen, and refiner Eneos Holdings rose 4.0 yen, or 0.9 percent, to 436.3 yen.

       Shinsei Bank was up 64 yen, or 3.4 percent, at 1,958 yen, after reports said Tuesday that the Japanese government is considering using its stake in the bank to vote against the launch of a defense against a hostile takeover by online financial group SBI Holdings Inc.

       On the First Section, declining issues outnumbered advancers 1,600 to 486, while 97 ended unchanged.

       Trading volume on the main section rose to 1,221.87 million shares from Monday's 1,065.38 million shares.

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