Japanese Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is significantly lower on Thursday, reversing the gains in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling well below the 49,100 level, with weakness in index heavyweights and technology stocks as well as a mixed performance in most other sectors.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 454.31 points or 0.92 percent to 49,057.97, after hitting a low of 48,643.78 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.4 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging up 0.2 percent, while Honda is losing almost 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 3 percent, Screen Holdings is down more than 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is declining almost 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric and Panasonic are losing almost 2 percent each, while Canon and Sony are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each.

Among other major losers, Japan Steel Works is tumbling almost 6 percent, Asahi Group is slipping almost 5 percent and Renesas Electronics is declining almost 4 percent, while Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Fujikura, Sumco and Lasertec are losing more than 3 percent each. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Disco are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Keisei Electric Railway is gaining more than 3 percent, while Nissui, Nichirei and SHIFT are adding almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 155 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved to the upside in early trading on Wednesday but quickly came under pressure after ending yesterday's choppy session narrowly mixed. The major averages pulled back well off their highs of the session and firmly into negative territory.

The major averages saw further downside going into the end of the day, closing just off their lows of the session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq tumbled 418.14 points or 1.8 percent to 22,693.32, the S&P 500 slumped 78.83 points or 1.2 percent to 6,721.43 and the Dow slid 228.29 points or 0.5 percent to 47,885.97.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced 0.9 percent, the French CAC 40 Index fell 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index slid by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices rebounded on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers in Venezuela. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was up $0.70 or 1.3 percent to end at $55.97 per barrel.