Japanese Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is sharply lower in post-holiday trading on Friday, extending the slight losses in the previous session, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 falling about 600 points to be above the 27,200 mark, following the mostly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with traders digesting the fourth straight 75-basis point interest rate hike by the US Fed, and the hawkish comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell that signaled more interest rate hikes in the coming months.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 574.83 points or 2.08 percent to 27,088.56, after hitting a low of 27,032.02. Japanese stocks closed slightly lower on Wednesday prior to a holiday on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda and Toyota are losing almost 2 percent each.

In the tech space, Advantest and Screen Holdings are declining almost 3 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is losing almost 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is losing almost 1 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging up 0.1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is flat.

Among major exporters, Canon and Panasonic are losing more than 1 percent each, while Sony is down almost 1 percent. Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.5 percent.

Among the other major losers, Z Holdings is plummeting almost 13 percent, M3 is plunging almost 9 percent, Nippon Suisan Kaisha is sliding more than 8 percent, AGC is slipping almost 8 percent, Minebea Mitsumi is declining almost 6 percent, Shiseido is losing more than 5 percent and Terumo is down more than 4 percent, while NEXON, Keyence, Yamato Holdings, Dai Nippon Printing are dipping almost 4 percent each. Nippon Sheet Glass, Yokogawa Electric and Kikkoman are down more than 3 percent.

Conversely, Mitsubishi Motors is soaring more than 16 percent, Konica Minolta is surging more than 7 percent and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is gaining 3.5 percent.

In economic news, the services sector in Japan continued to expand in October, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed on Friday with a services PMI score of 53.2. That's up from 52.2 in September, and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The report also showed that Japan's Composite PMI rose to 51.8 in October from 5.0 in September.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 148 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks fell on Thursday, extending losses to a fourth straight session, as slowing growth and rising interest rates dampened investors sentiment. The fourth straight 75-basis point interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve, and comments from the central bank Chair Jerome Powell that signaled more interest rate hikes in the coming months rendered the mood bearish.

The major averages all ended in the red despite seeing a modest recovery from early lows. The Dow ended with a loss of 146.51 points or 0.46 percent at 32,001.25, the S&P 500 settled at 3,719.89, losing 39.80 points or 1.06 percent and the Nasdaq ended with a loss of 181.86 points or 1.73 percent at 10,342.94.

The major European markets too mostly ended weak. Germany's DAX shed 0.95 percent and France's CAC 40 declined 0.54 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 advanced 0.62 percent.

Crude oil prices settled sharply lower Thursday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand. The dollar's sharp uptick following hawkish comments from the Federal Reserve also weighed on crude oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December sank $1.83 or 2 percent at $88.17 a barrel.