Japanese Market Sharply Lower

(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 more than 2 percent to below the 48,700 level, with weakness in index heavyweights, financial and technology stocks partially offset by gains in automaker stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 1,125.57 points or 2.26 percent to 48,698.37, after hitting a low of 48,559.68 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is tumbling more than 10 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.4 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining almost 2 percent and Honda is adding almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is tumbling almost 10 percent, Tokyo Electron is declining more than 5 percent and Screen Holdings is losing almost 4 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is edging down 0.3 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing almost 1 percent. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is flat.

Among the major exporters, Sony and Canon are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is losing almost 3 percent and Panasonic is edging down 0.1 percent.

Among other major losers, Ibiden is plunging more than 9 percent, while Mitsui Kinzoku and Sumitomo Electric Industries are tumbling more than 8 percent each. Fujikura, Disco and Furukawa Electric are declining almost 7 percent each, while Resonac Holdings and Japan Steel Works are losing more than 5 percent each. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and IHI are slipping almost 5 percent, while Yaskawa Electric is down more than 4 percent.

Conversely, M3 is surging more than 5 percent and Olympus is advancing more than 4 percent, while Nitori Holdings and Mitsubishi Estate are gaining almost 2 percent each.

In economic news, overall consumer prices in Japan were up 3.0 percent on year in October, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday. That was in line with expectations and up from 2.9 percent in September. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, inflation was up 0.4 percent - up from 0.1 percent in the previous month. Core CPI was up 3.0 percent on year - matching forecasts and up from 2.9 percent a month earlier.

Meanwhile, Japan posted a merchandise trade deficit of 231.8 billion yen in October, the Ministry of Finance said on Friday. That beat expectations for a shortfall of 280 billion yen following the 234.6 billion yen deficit in September.

Exports were up 3.6 percent on year at 9.766 trillion yen; that also beat forecasts for a gain of 1.1 percent following the 4.2 percent increase in the previous month. Imports rose an annual 0.7 percent to 9.998 trillion yen versus expectations for a decline of 0.7 percent following the 3.0 percent gain a month earlier.

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

On Wall Street, stocks showed a substantial downturn over the course of the trading day on Thursday after moving sharply higher early in the session. The major averages pulled back well off their early highs and tumbled firmly into negative territory.

The major averages ended the day just off their lows of the session. The Nasdaq plummeted 486.18 points or 2.2 percent to 22,078.05, the S&P 500 plunged 103.40 points or 1.6 percent to 6,538.76 and the Dow slumped 386.51 points or 0.8 percent to 45,752.26,

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. hile the German DAX Index climbed by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index crept up by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices edged lower on Thursday as investors assessed reports of renewed efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war ahead of the U.S. deadline. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $0.27 or 0.44 percent at $59.18 per barrel.