Japanese Market Sharply Lower; Slipping 3%

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is trading sharply lower on Friday, extending the sharp losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is tumbling 3 percent to below the 64,800 level, with weakness across most sectors led by financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 2,039.66 points or 3.05 percent to 64,795.88, after hitting a low of 64,104.78 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is tumbling almost 8 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging down 0.2 percent and Honda is losing almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is tumbling more than 8 percent, Screen Holdings is slipping almost 10 percent and Tokyo Electron is sliding almost 8 percent.

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

Among the major exporters, Panasonic is losing almost 3 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is declining almost 4 percent, while Canon is gaining more than 1 percent and Sony is advancing almost 2 percent. Among other major losers, Kioxia Holdings is plummeting almost 14 percent, Taiyo Yuden is plunging more than 11 percent, while Sumco and Lasertec are tumbling more than 9 percent each. Ibiden, Disco and Socionext are sliding more than 7 percent each. Furukawa Electric and Mitsui Kinzoku are slipping more than 6 percent each, while Murata Manufacturing and Renesas Electronics are declining almost 6 percent each.

Conversely, SHIFT is jumping more than 7 percent and Nichirei is surging almost 5 percent, while Nintendo and Sapporo Holdings are advancing more than 4 percent each. Konami Group and Seven & I Holdings are gaining almost 4 percent each, while Aeon and Nippon Yusen are adding more than 3 percent each. BayCurrent, Kikkoman, BANDAI NAMCO, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Pan Pacific International, Japan Tobacco and Kirin Holdings are up almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 162 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday, giving back ground following the upward move seen over the two previous sessions. The major averages all moved to the downside, with the Nasdaq showing a significant decline.

The major averages regained some ground going into end of the day but still closed in negative territory. The Nasdaq tumbled 387.28 points or 1.5 percent to 25,881.95, the S&P 500 slid 38.63 points or 0.5 percent to 7,533.77 and the Dow dipped 105.67 points or 0.2 percent to 52,552.97.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned mixed over the course of the session. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices slumped on Thursday as hopes for a diplomatic resolution to the U.S.-Iran conflict strengthened. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was down $0.90 or 1.13 percent at $78.70 per barrel.