Japanese Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is slightly lower in choppy trading on Thursday, reversing some of the gains in the previous two sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is staying just above the 45,600 level, with weakness in index heavyweights and technology stocks partially offset by gains in automakers, exporters and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 29.96 points or 0.07 percent to 45,600.35, after touching a high of 45,746.08 and a low of 45,503.31 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.4 percent. Among automakers, Toyota and Honda are edging up 0.3 percent each.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing 1.5 percent and Screen Holdings is declining almost 2 percent, while Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.2 percent.

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

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric and Panasonic are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Sony is gaining almost 1 percent. Canon is edging down 0.3 percent.

Among other major losers, Sumitomo Pharma is losing almost 4 percent.

Conversely, Sumitomo Metal Mining is surging almost 7 percent and Mitsubishi Materials is advancing almost 5 percent, while Japan Exchange Group and Recruit Holdings are gaining more than 3 percent each. Dowa Holdings, JGC Holdings and Takashimaya are adding almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, the Bank of Japan will on Thursday release the minutes from its monetary policy meeting on July 30-31. At the meeting, the BoJ maintained its interest rate and lifted its inflation outlook citing the rise in food prices. The policy board unanimously decided to hold the uncollateralized overnight call rate to remain at around 0.5 percent. Previously, the bank had raised the benchmark rate to the current level from 0.25 percent in January.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 148 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw further downside during trading on Wednesday after coming under pressure over the course of the previous session. The major averages showed a lack of direction early in the session but slid more firmly into negative territory as the day progressed.

The major averages finished the day off their worst levels but still moderately lower. The Dow slid 171.50 points or 0.4 percent at 46,121.28, the Nasdaq fell 75.62 points or 0.3 percent to 22,497.86 and the S&P 500 dipped 18.95 points or 0.3 percent to 6,637.97.

Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day mixed. While the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.6 percent, the German DAX Index crept up by 0.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index increased by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices soared on Wednesday due to the increasing likelihood of Russian oil exports facing heavy U.S. sanctions. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for November delivery was up $1.61 or 2.54 percent at $65.02 per barrel.