Japanese Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is trading sharply lower on Friday, reversing the sharp gains in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling 2.8 percent to near the 70,350 level, with weakness in index heavyweights and technology stocks partially offset gains in automakers and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 2,008.67 points or 2.78 percent to 70,357.67, after hitting a low of 70,085.31 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is tumbling almost 12 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining more than 1 percent and Honda is also adding more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is tumbling almost 8 percent, while Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron are losing more than 1 percent each.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining almost 1 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are adding more than 1 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Panasonic is gaining almost 2 percent and Canon is edging up 0.1 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is declining more than 1 percent and Sony is losing almost 1 percent. Among other major losers, Taiyo Yuden is tumbling almost 8 percent, while Disco, Mitsui Kinzoku and TDK is sliding more than 5 percent each. Furukawa Electric is slipping more than 4 percent, while Lasertec, Kioxia Holdings, Tokyo Electric Power, Nissan Motor, Murata Manufacturing and Socionext are declining almost 4 percent each. Konica Minolta and Trend Micro are slipping more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, Renesas Electronics is jumping more than 8 percent, Kao is gaining more than 4 percent and Sumco is adding almost 3 percent.

In economic news, core consumer prices in Tokyo's central wards rose 1.6 percent on year in June 2026, accelerating from 1.3 percent in the previous month and in line with market expectations. It was the first acceleration since September last year and marked the fastest increase in three months. However, inflation remained below the Bank of Japan's 2% target for a fifth consecutive month.

Meanwhile, CPI, which excludes volatile fresh food and energy costs and is seen by the BoJ as a better gauge of underlying inflation, increased 1.9 percent on year, up from 1.6 percent in May.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 161 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a mixed performance on Thursday with investors digesting a slew of crucial economic data and some corporate news, including earnings update from Micron. The focus is also on reports about the ongoing U.S.-Iran peace efforts.

The Dow added 71.72 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 51,920.62, while the NASDAQ slumped 118.03 points or 0.46 percent to end at 25,358.60 and the S&P 500 dipped 0.73 points or 0.01 percent to close at 7,357.49.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. The UK's FTSE 100 gained 0.65 percent, Germany's DAX moved up 1.03 percent and France's CAC 40 ended 0.55 percent higher.

Crude oil prices jumped on Thursday as supply disruption threats reappeared after a projectile hit a cargo ship near Oman across the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was up $1.49 or 2.12 percent at $71.83 per barrel.