Japanese Market Sharply Lower; Down 5%

(RTTNews) - Reversing the sharp gains in the previous session, the Japanese market is sharply lower on Friday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is tumbling 5.3 percent to below the 32,800 level, with weakness across most sectors led by index heavyweights, automakers and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 1,830.25 points or 5.29 percent to 32,778.75, after hitting a low of 32,626.58 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 6 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down more than 5 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing more than 7 percent and Honda is declining more than 6 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is tumbling more than 8 percent, Tokyo Electron is declining more than 4 percent and Screen Holdings is losing more than 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is slipping almost 7 percent, Mizuho Financial is tumbling almost 8 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is declining more than 6 percent.

Among the major exporters, Sony is tumbling almost 10 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is losing almost 5 percent, Panasonic is slipping more than 7 percent and Canon is declining almost 6 percent.

Among other major losers, Furukawa Electric, Fanuc, T&D Holdings and Resona Holdings are tumbling more than 8 percent each, while JTEKT, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Concordia Financial, Nissan Motor, Yokohama Rubber, TDK, Nitto Denko and Tokio Marine are sliding almost 8 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major gainers.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 143 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a substantial move back to the downside during trading on Thursday following an historic rally over the course of Wednesday's session. The major averages all posted steep losses but remain well off their recent lows.

The major averages ended the day off their worst levels but still sharply lower. The Nasdaq plunged 737.66 points or 4.3 percent to 16,387.31, the S&P 500 tumbled 188.85 points or 3.5 percent to 5,268.05 and the Dow slumped 1,014.79 points or 2.5 percent to 39,593.66.

Meanwhile, the major European markets showed substantial moves back to the upside on the day. The German DAX also soared by 4.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index shot up by 3.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index surged by 3.0 percent.

Crude oil prices showed a significant move back to the downside during trading on Thursday following the substantial rebound seen over the course of the previous session, Crude for May delivery plunged $2.07 or 3.3 percent to $60.28 a barrel.