Japanese Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is trading significantly lower on Thursday, extending the losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling below the 37,800 level, with weakness across most sectors led by index heavyweights, automakers and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 329.48 points or 0.86 percent to 37,798.65, after hitting a low of 37,674.94 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly lower on Wednesday.

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

In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are losing almost 1 percent each, while Screen Holdings is declining almost 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are losing almost 1 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is flat.

Among the major exporters, Sony is losing more than 3 percent, Canon is slipping almost 2 percent and Panasonic is down almost 2 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric are edging up 0.2 percent.

Among other major losers, Rakuten Group is sliding more than 6 percent, Sumitomo Pharma is declining almost 6 percent, Toppan Holdings is slipping almost 5 percent and Subaru is down more than 4 percent, while Dai-ichi Life, Mitsubishi Materials and NTN are losing almost 4 percent each. Nissan Motor, Suzuki Motor, Ricoh and Sumitomo Chemical are slipping more than 3 percent each, while Fujikura and Japan Exchange Group are down almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Taiyo Yuden is soaring more than 7 percent and Aozora Bank is surging more than 6 percent, while Toray Industries and Tokai Carbon are gaining almost 5 percent each. Keisei Electric Railway and Haseko are up more than 4 percent each, while SMC and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines are adding almost 4 percent each. Kuraray is rising more than 3 percent, while Odakyu Electric Railway and Nidec are up almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 146 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the session after moving to the upside at the start of trading on Wednesday, bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before finishing mixed.

The Dow slumped 89.37 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 42,051.06, while the NASDAQ rallied 136.72 points or 0.72 percent to close at 19,146.81 and the S&P 500 rose 6.03 points or 0.10 percent to end at 5,892.58.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the downside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell 0.21 percent, while Germany's DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both slipped 0.47 percent.

Crude oil prices slipped again on Wednesday, after data showed that U.S. crude inventories unexpectedly jumped last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery shed 0.80 or 1.27 percent to 62.87 per barrel.