Japanese Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is trading sharply lower on Friday, extending the sharp losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is tumbling 2.3 percent to near the 65,900 level, with weakness in technology stocks partially offset by gains in financial stocks and a mixed performance across most other sectors.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 1,567.70 points or 2.32 percent to 65,902.99, after hitting a low of 65,893.20 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.4 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining almost 1 percent, while Honda is declining almost 3 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is tumbling more than 7 percent, Tokyo Electron is declining almost 7 percent and Advantest is sliding more than 5 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding more than 2 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are advancing almost 2 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Panasonic is declining almost 3 percent, while Sony is gaining more than 1 percent. Mitsubishi Electric and Canon are flat.

Among other major losers, Sumco is plunging almost 10 percent, while Ibiden and Taiyo Yuden are tumbling almost 9 percent each. Renesas Electronics is sliding almost 7 percent, while Denka, Socionext and Murata Manufacturing are declining almost 6 percent. Mitsui Kinzoku and Fujikura are slipping almost 5 percent each, while Tokuyama, AGC and Fanuc are losing more than 4 percent each.

Conversely, Trend Micro is soaring more than 9 percent, T&D Holdings is jumping more than 8 percent and Japan Steel Works is surging more than 7 percent and Nintendo is advancing more than 5 percent, while Sumitomo Pharma and Shiseido are gaining more than 4 percent each. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and Nippon Yusen K.K. are adding almost 4 percent each, while Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Fujitsu, M3, SHIFT, Credit Saison, Tokyo Tatemono and Daiichi Sankyo are all rising more than 3 percent each.

In economic news, the average of household spending in Japan was down 0.5 percent on year in April, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday - coming in at 328,969 yen. That beat forecasts for a decline of 1.5 percent following the 2.9 percent drop in March.

On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, household spending rose 1.6 percent - again exceeding expectations for a gain of 0.8 percent following the 1.3 percent drop in the previous month. The average of monthly income per household stood at 612,163 yen, up 2.3 percent on year.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 159 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Thursday following the pullback seen during Wednesday's session. The Dow showed a significant move back to the upside, reaching a new record closing high.

The Dow gave back some ground going into the end of the day but still jumped 874.86 points or 1.7 percent to 51,561.93. The S&P 500 also climbed 30.63 points or 0.4 percent to 7,584.31 but the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed down 23.02 points or 0.1 percent at 26,830.98.

Meanwhile, most European stocks moved to the upside on the day. The French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.2 percent, the German DAX Index advanced by 0.6 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices plunged on Wednesday on hopes of de-escalation in the Middle East following an Israel-Lebanon ceasefire announcement. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was down $3.00 or 3.12 percent at $93.02 per barrel.