Japanese Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is modestly lower on Thursday, giving up some of the gains in the previous two sessions, with the Nikkei 225 staying above the 28,100 level, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, as traders reacted to the US Fed raising interest rates by 50 basis points and signaling more hikes next year.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 41.72 points or 0.15 percent to 28,114.49, after hitting a low of 27,987.54 earlier. Japanese stocks closed significantly higher on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.3 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is flat. Among automakers, Toyota is flat and Honda is edging down 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Advantest is edging up 0.4 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are edging up 0.2 to 0.6 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is losing almost 1 percent, while Sony and Canon are edging down 0.2 to 0.3 percent each. Panasonic is gaining more than 1 percent.

Among the other major losers, there are no other major losers.

Conversely, Hitachi Zosen, IHI Corp., Isetan Mitsukoshi and Kawasaki Heavy Industries are gaining almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, Japan posted a merchandise trade deficit of 2,027.4 billion yen in November, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday. That missed forecasts for a shortfall of 1,680.3 billion yen following the downwardly revised 2,166.2 billion yen deficit in October (originally -2,162.3 billion yen). Exports jumped 20.0 percent on year to 8.837 trillion yen - beating expectations for a gain of 19.8 percent and slowing from 25.3 percent in the previous month. Imports spiked an annual 30.3 percent to 10.864 trillion yen versus expectations for an increase of 27.0 percent following the 53.5 percent surge a month earlier.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 135 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw substantial volatility after a positive start to the day, following the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. The major averages showed wild swings before eventually closing firmly in negative territory.

The major averages finished the day in the red but off their lows of the session. The Dow fell 142.29 points or 0.4 percent to 33,966.35, the Nasdaq slid 85.93 points or 0.8 percent to 11,170.89 and the S&P 500 dropped 24.33 points or 0.6 percent to 3,995.32.

The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index dipped by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index slipped by 0.2 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday, lifted by an upward revision in demand forecast by the International Energy Agency due to the shutdown of the Keystone pipeline following a massive leak. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended higher by $1.89 or 2.5 percent at $77.28 a barrel.