Japanese Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is trading notably lower on Friday, reversing some of the gains in the previous two sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling below the 62,450 level, with weakness in index heavyweights and financial stocks partially offset by gains in automaker stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 404.83 points or 0.64 percent to 62,429.01, after hitting a low of 62,290.83 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is tumbling almost 5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 2 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging up 0.3 percent and Honda is gaining almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is losing more than 1 percent, while Advantest is adding almost 1 percent and Tokyo Electron is gaining more than 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is declining more than 3 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are losing more than 2 percent each.

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

Among other major losers, Yokogawa Electric is plunging more than 9 percent, Ibiden is tumbling more than 6 percent, Sumitomo Pharma is sliding more than 5 percent and Kyowa Kirin is slipping almost 5 percent, while Sojitz, Fukuoka Financial, Mitsui Chemicals, Shizuoka Financial and Daiwa Securities are declining more than 4 percent each. Resona Holdings, Chiba Bank and Tosoh are losing almost 4 percent each.

Conversely, Sumco is soaring more than 10 percent, while SHIFT and Yaskawa Electric is jumping more than 6 percent each. Fanuc and Fuji Electric are surging almost 6 percent each, while Recruit Holdings is gaining more than 5 percent. Kioxia Holdings, Keyence, BayCurrent and Dentsu Group are advancing more than 4 percent each, while Nintendo, Alps Alpine and NEC are up almost 4 percent each. SMC and Mercari are rising more than 3 percent each.

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

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a lackluster performance early in the session on Thursday but came under pressure over the course of the trading day. The major averages all moved to the downside, although selling remained relatively subdued.

The major averages finished the day off their lows of the session but still in the red. The Dow slid 313.62 points or 0.6 percent to 49,596.97, the S&P 500 fell 28.01 points or 0.4 percent to 7,337.11 and the Nasdaq edged down 32.75 points or 0.1 percent to 25,806.20.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index tumbled 1.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index slumped by 1.2 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices had moved lower as Iran reviews a peace plan offered by the U.S. to end the gulf war but bounced higher again on supply concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery was at $94.76 per barrel.