Japanese Market Plunges 6.6%

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is trading sharply lower on Friday, extending the losses in the previous three sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is plunging 6.6 percent to below the 57,050 level, with a sell-off across most sectors led by index heavyweights, financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is tumbling 4,033.09 points or 6.61 percent to 57,044.81, after hitting a low of 56,971.00 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is plunging more than 11 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 3 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is declining more than 3 percent and Honda is slipping almost 4 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is plunging more than 11 percent, Screen Holdings is tumbling more than 5 percent and Tokyo Electron is sliding more than 8 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are sliding more than 6 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is tumbling more than 8 percent.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is sliding almost 8 percent, Panasonic is tumbling almost 10 percent, Sony is edging down 0.1 percent and Canon is losing more than 2 percent.

Among other major losers, Ibiden and Furukawa Electric are plummeting almost 15 percent each, while Fujikura and Resonac Holdingsare plunging almosy 14 percent each. Kioxia Holdings and Murata Manufacturing are tumbling more than 13 percent each. Tokai Carbon and Mitsui Kinzoku are sliding almost 13 percent each, while JX Advanced Metals is slipping more than 12 percent, while Ajinomoto and Sumco are declining almost 12 percent each. Japan Steel Works is losing more than 11 percent.

Conversely, Daikin Industries is gaining almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 157 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a substantial move back to the downside during trading on Thursday following the rally seen in the previous session. The major averages all moved sharply lower, more than offsetting yesterday's gains.

The major averages ended the day just off their lows of the session. The Nasdaq nosedive 1,421.52 points or 5.5 percent to 24,315.00, the S&P 500 plummeted 334.89 points or 4.4 percent to 7,353.73 and the Dow plunged 1,833.06 or 3.4 percent to 51,523.06.

Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day mixed. While the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both fell by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices surged on Thursday as investors look for the next steps to resolve the U.S.-Iran standoff - either through diplomacy or hostility. West Texas Intermediate crude for December was up $2.29 or 2.60 percent at $90.41 per barrel.