Japanese Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is trading modestly lower on Thursday, extending the losses in the previous session, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling below the 39,550 level, with weakness in automakers and technology stocks and a mixed performance in most other sectors.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 126.99 points or 0.32 percent to 39,536.41, after hitting a low of 39,370.43 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 2 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging down 0.3 percent and Honda is losing almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is declining more than 2 percent, Tokyo Electron is losing almost 3 percent and Screen Holdings is down more than 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is gaining more than 1 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging up 0.4 and 0.5 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Sony is gaining almost 2 percent and Panasonic is edging up 0.1 percent, while Canon is losing almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is declining more than 1 percent.

Among other major losers, Lasertec is losing more than 4 percent and Toray Industries is declining almost 3 percent.

Conversely, Mercari is surging almost 5 percent and CyberAgent is gaining more than 3 percent, while M3 and NEC are adding almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, Japan posted a seasonally adjusted merchandise trade surplus of 153.1 billion yen in June, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday. That was shy of estimates for a surplus of a surplus of 353.9 billion yen following the downwardly revised 638.6 billion yen deficit in May (originally a 637.6 billion yen shortfall).

Exports were down 0.5 percent on year, missing forecasts for a gain of 0.5 percent after sinking 1.7 percent in the previous month. Imports rose an annual 0.2 percent versus expectations for a drop of 1.6 percent after losing 7.7 percent a month earlier.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 148 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction throughout much of the trading day on Wednesday following the mixed performance seen in the previous session. The major averages moved to the upside in the latter part of the session, however, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq reaching a new record closing high.

The major averages all finished the day in positive territory. The Dow advanced 231.49 points or 0.5 percent to 44,254.78, the Nasdaq rose 52.69 points or 0.3 percent to 20,730.49 and the S&P 500 climbed 19.94 points or 0.3 percent to 6,263.70.

Meanwhile, the major European markets also moved to the downside over the course of the session. While the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.6 percent, the German DAX Index slipped by 0.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices dropped for the third straight day on Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration said gasoline inventories increased by 3.4 million barrels last week and are slightly above the five-year average for this time of year. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery fell $0.14 to settle at $65.38 per barrel.