Japanese Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - Reversing some of the strong gains in the previous two sessions, the Japanese market is notably lower on Friday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling well above the 41,650 level, with weakness across most sectors led by exporters, automakers and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 196.21 points or 0.47 percent to 41,630.13, after hitting a low of 41,581.55 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing more than 1 percent and Honda is declining almost 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining more than 1 percent, while Tokyo Electron and Screen Holdings are edging down 0.3 to 0.5 percent each.

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

Among the major exporters, Sony is losing almost 1 percent, Canon is declining more than 4 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is down more than 1 percent and Panasonic is slipping 1.5 percent.

Among other major losers, Shin-Etsu Chemical and Mitsubishi Motors are plunging more than 9 percent each, while Yaskawa Electric is declining almost 5 percent. Sumco, Fanuc, Mazda Motor and Canon are losing more than 4 percent each. JFE Holdings and Subaru are down almost 4 percent each, while SMC and Isuzu Motors are slipping more than 3 percent each. Suzuki Motor is falling almost 3 percent.

Conversely, Otsuka Holdings, Nidec, Mitsui Mining & Smelting and Disco are gaining almost 3 percent each.

In other news, shares in Shin-Etsu Chemical are tumbling almost 10 percent after issuing a weaker profit outlook for fiscal 2025.

In economic news, overall consumer prices in the Tokyo region of Japan were up 2.9 percent on year in July, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday. That was shy of expectations for an increase of 3.0 percent on year and down from 3.1 percent in June. Core CPI, which excludes the volatile costs of food, also was up an annual 2.9 percent. That, too, was beneath expectations for 3.0 percent and down from 3.1 percent in the previous month.

The Bank of Japan said on Friday that producer prices in Japan were up 3.2 percent on year in June. That was in line with expectations and down from the upwardly revised 34 percent in May (originally 3.3 percent). On a monthly basis, producer prices slipped 0.1 percent for the second straight month. Excluding international transportation, producer prices were up 3.3 percent on year and down 0.2 percent on month. That follows the 3.6 percent yearly gain and the flat monthly reading in May.

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

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a mixed performance on Thursday after a strong session a day earlier, with the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 opening higher and hitting fresh record closing highs. Conversely, the Dow opened in the red and remained under water throughout the day, weighed by losses from heavyweight IBM, which may be facing an investigation into billing practices.

The Dow stumbled 316.38 points or 0.70 percent to finish at 44,693.91, while the NASDAQ gained 37.94 points or 0.18 percent to close at 21,057.96 and the S&P 500 rose 4.44 points or 0.07 percent to end at 6,363.35.

The major European markets also closed mixed on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.85 percent, Germany's DAX closed up 0.23 percent and France's CAC 40 drifted down 0.41 percent.

Crude oil prices rose on Thursday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said crude stockpiles declined more than expected last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for September was up $0.87 or 1.33 percent to $66.12 per barrel.