Japanese Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - Extending the losses in the previous two sessions, the Japanese market is notably lower on Friday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling to stay just above the 38,500 level, with weakness across most sectors led by index heavyweights and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 153.73 points or 0.40 percent to 38,524.31, after hitting a low of 38,497.57 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging down 0.3 percent and Honda is also edging down 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 1 percent, while Screen Holdings is edging up 0.5 percent. Tokyo Electron is flat.

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

Among the major exporters, Panasonic and Canon are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is losing more than 1 percent. Sony is gaining almost 2 percent.

Among other major losers, Furukawa Electric is losing almost 4 percent, while Suzuki Motor, Hoya and IHI are declining more than 3 percent each. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Trend Micro and Hitachi are down almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, DeNA is surging almost 6 percent and Mercari is gaining more than 3 percent, while Shizuoka Financial and Ryohin Keikaku are adding almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 149 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks regained some ground over the course of the trading day on Thursday after moving sharply lower early in the session. The major averages climbed well off their early lows but remained firmly in negative territory.

The S&P 500 fell as much as 1.0 percent in early trading but ended the day more moderately lower, down 26.63 points or 0.4 percent at 19,962.36. The Nasdaq also slid 93.89 points or 0.5 percent to 19,962.36 after tumbling as much as 1.3 percent. The narrower Dow posted a more significant loss, slumping 450.94 points or 1.0 percent to 44,176.65.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index fell by 0.5 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices settled higher on Thursday, as supply disruptions in Russia and drop in gasoline and distillate fuel stocks supported oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures closed higher by $32 or 0.44 percent at $72.57 a barrel.