The Nikkei 225 fell 2.2% in early Wednesday trading to 64,742.17 points. Chip-related stocks such as SoftBank Group, Advantest, and Tokyo Electron led the declines, falling 4.1%, 4.0%, and 4.5% respectively. Ongoing market concerns include the war situation in Iran and rising energy costs. The USD/JPY exchange rate rose to 160.19, up from 159.94 at Tuesday's close in Tokyo.