Japanese Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is notably lower on Friday, extending the losses in the previous two sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling below the 53,600 level, with a mixed performance across most sectors.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 237.26 points or 0.44 percent to 53,580.78, after hitting a low of 52,950.15 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging down 0.2 percent, while Honda is gaining almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 3 percent and Screen Holdings is edging down 0.2 percent, while Tokyo Electron is gaining almost 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding almost 1 percent and Mizuho Financial is gaining more than 1 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging down 0.4 percent.

Among the major exporters, Sony is declining almost 4 percent and Canon is edging down 0.2 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.3 percent and Panasonic is gaining almost 2 percent.

Among other major losers, Nikon is tumbling more than 9 percent, Kikkoman is sliding almost 8 percent, Minebea Mitsumi is slipping more than 7 percent and Sumitomo Metal Mining is declining more than 6 percent, while Sumitomo Pharma and BayCurrent are losing more than 5 percent each. Konica Minolta and FUJIFILM are down almost 5 percent each, while Nintendo and Chugai Pharmaceutical are losing more than 4 percent each. Dowa Holdings, CyberAgent and Shiseido are down almost 4 percent each. M3 is declining more than 3 percent.

Conversely, Ajinomoto is soaring more than 8 percent, Mitsubishi Motors is jumping almost 8 percent, Shimizu is surging more than 7 percent, Ricoh is advancing almost 7 percent, Omron is gaining more than 5 percent and Kanadevia is adding almost 4 percent, while NTN, BANDAI NAMCO and Taisei are up more than 3 percent each. Suzuki Motor, Hitachi, Renesas Electronics, Obayashi and IHI are gaining almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, the average of household spending in Japan was down 2.9 percent on month in December, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday - coming in at 351,522 yen. That missed forecasts for a fall of 1.3 percent following the 6.2 percent jump in November.

On an annual basis, household spending slipped 2.6 percent - again shy of expectations for a dip of 0.5 percent following the 2.9 percent increase in the previous month. The average of monthly income per household stood at 1,207,545 yen, roughly unchanged from the previous year.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 156 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, major U.S. stock indexes all moved sharply lower during trading on Thursday following the mixed performance seen in the previous session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the way lower, tumbling to its lowest closing level in over two months.

The major averages ended the day off their worst levels of the session but still firmly negative. The Nasdaq plunged 363.99 points or 1.6 percent to 22,540.59, the S&P 500 tumbled 84.32 points or 1.2 percent to 6,798.40 and the Dow slumped 592.58 points or 1.2 percent to 48,908.72.

The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.9 percent, the German DAX Index declined by 0.5 percent and the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices plunged on Thursday after weak U.S. jobs data increased demand concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was down $1.87 or 2.87 percent at $63.27 per barrel.