Japanese Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is significantly lower on Thursday, giving up some of the gains in the previous three sessions, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 27,700 level, despite the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, as traders indulged in booking some profits after the recent gains in the markets amid easing concerns about the turmoil in banking industry.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 211.24 points or 0.76 percent to 27,672.54, after hitting a low of 27,660.91 earlier. Japanese stocks closed sharply higher on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 2 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.3 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing almost 1 percent and Honda is edging down 0.5 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is edging down 0.3 percent and Tokyo Electron is plummeting 66 percent, while Advantest is edging up 0.3 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are all losing almost 2 percent each. Among the major exporters, Panasonic is edging down 0.4 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is losing more than 1 percent, while Sony is gaining almost 3 percent. Canon is flat.

Among the other major losers, Daiwa Securities is losing more than 3 percent.

Conversely, Daiichi Sankyo is gaining more than 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 132 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a strong move to the upside during trading on Wednesday, more than offsetting the weakness seen in the previous session. The major averages all moved higher on the day, with the Nasdaq leading the advance.

The major averages reached new highs for the session going into the close of trading. The Nasdaq surged 210.16 points or 1.8 percent to 11,926.24, the S&P 500 shot up 56.54 points or 1.4 percent to 4,027.81 and the Dow jumped 323.35 points or 1.0 percent to 32,717.60.

The major European markets also showed strong moves to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index has shot up by 1.4 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.2 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

Crude oil futures failed to hold early gains and ended modestly lower on Wednesday, despite data showing a drop in crude stockpiles last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May faded $0.23 or 0.3 percent at $72.97 a barrel, coming off a high of $74.37 a barrel.