Japanese Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is modestly lower in choppy trading on Thursday, snapping an eight-session winning streak, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 33,200 level, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, with weakness in technology stocks partially offset by gains in index heavyweights.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 87.83 points or 0.26 percent to 33,153.19, after hitting a low of 33,096.47 earlier. Japanese stocks closed notably higher on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging up 0.5 percent and Honda is flat.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 4 percent and Screen Holdings is down more than1 percent, while Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.1 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are edging up 0.2 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is edging down 0.2 percent.

Among the major exporters, Panasonic is gaining almost 1 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric and Sony are edging down 0.3 percent each. Canon is flat.

Among other major losers, NTN is losing more than 4 percent and M3 is declining more than 3 percent, while Pacific Metals, Hoya, Minebea Mitsumi and Nidec are down almost 3 percent.

Conversely, Mitsui E&S surging almost 7 percent and Kawasaki Heavy Industries is gaining almost 6 percent, while Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, IHI, Nippon Sheet Glass and Nippon Paper Industries are adding more than 3 percent each. Hitachi Construction Machinery, Tobu Railway, Sapporo Holdings, JGC Holdings, Inpex and Kajima are advancing almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 147 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw further downside during trading on Wednesday after ending the previous session mostly lower. The major averages all decreased on the day, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq showing a notable decline.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels in afternoon trading but remained firmly negative. The Nasdaq tumbled 148.48 points or 1.1 percent to 13,872.47, the S&P 500 slid 31.35 points or 0.7 percent to 4,465.48 and the Dow fell 198.78 points or 0.6 percent to 34,443.19.

The major European markets have all also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 0.8 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both edged down by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices extended recent gains and moved higher on Wednesday, lifting the futures contract to a fresh nine-month closing high - fueled by the decision by Russia and Saudi Arabia to extend production cuts. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for October ended higher by $0.85 or 1 percent at $87.54 a barrel.