Japanese Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - Giving up the gains in the previous two sessions, the Japanese market is significantly lower on Thursday, following the mixed cues from other global markets overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling below the 38,300 level, with losses across most sectors led by index heavyweights, financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 282.52 points or 0.73 percent to 38,288.24, after hitting a low of 38,263.08 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.3 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing almost 2 percent and Honda is also declining almost 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is edging down 0.5 percent, Tokyo Electron is losing almost 1 percent and Screen Holdings is declining almost 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is losing more than 1 percent, Mizuho Financial is down almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is declining almost 2 percent.

Among the major exporters, Canon is losing 1.5 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is declining more than 2 percent, while Panasonic and Sony are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each.

Among other major losers, Fujikura is plunging more than 5 percent, while Nidec and Kawasaki Heavy Industries are losing almost 4 percent each. Mitsui Mining & Smelting, Keisei Electric Railway and NEXON are down more than 3 percent each, while IHI, Mitsubishi Estate, Furukawa Electric, Teijin, Trend Micro and Nippon Yusen K.K. are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Isuzu Motors is gaining almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 158 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, the markets were closed for Juneteenth National Independence Day on Wednesday after closing modestly higher on Tuesday.

The major European markets were mixed on the day. Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 ended lower by 0.35 percent and 0.77 percent, respectively. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.17 percent.