Japanese Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is slightly lower in choppy trading on Friday, extending the losses in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 staying above the 27,600 level, following the mostly negative cues from global markets overnight, with the Yen dropping to a fresh 24-year low and breaching the key psychological level of 140.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 35.87 points or 0.13 percent to 27,625.60, after hitting a low of 27,570.74 earlier. Japanese stocks closed sharply lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.3 percent and Toyota is edging down 0.3 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing almost 1 percent, while Tokyo Electron and Screen Holdings are edging down 0.2 percent each.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.2 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.2 percent. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is flat.

Among major exporters, Canon is edging down 0.5 percent, while Panasonic and Sony are losing more than 1 percent each. Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among the other major losers, NEXON is losing almost 5 percent, while Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Pacific Metals, Inpex and Sumitomo Metal Mining are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings is gaining almost 4 percent and J. Front Retailing is adding more than 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 141 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a substantial turnaround over the course of the trading day on Thursday following another sell-off early in the session. The major averages bounced well off their lows of the session, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching positive territory.

The Dow climbed 145.99 points or 0.5 percent to 31,656.42 after falling by nearly 300 points, while the S&P 500 rose 11.85 points or 0.3 percent to 3,966.85. The tech-heavy Nasdaq also rebounded well off its worst level of the day but still closed down 31.08 points or 0.3 percent to 11,785.13.

Meanwhile, the major European markets also showed significant moves to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index plunged 1.9 percent, the German DAX Index and French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1.6 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

Crude oil futures ended sharply lower Thursday on rising concerns about the outlook for energy demand and worries that aggressive rate hikes by major central banks may lead to a global economic slowdown. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended lower by $2.94 or 3.3 percent at $86.61 a barrel.