Japanese Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is slightly lower in choppy trading on Friday, giving up some of the gains in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 staying above the 28,300 level, despite the broadly positive cues from European markets overnight, as traders reacted to data showing core consumer prices in Tokyo surged to a 40-year high in November.

Traders also indulged in profit taking after the recent rally amid optimism the US Fed will scale down the pace of its interest rate hikes. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 45.75 points or 0.16 percent to 28,337.34, after hitting a low of 28,277.73. Japanese stocks closed significantly higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.3 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.1 percent and Toyota is edging up 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are v each, while Screen Holdings is edging up 0.1 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are edging down 0.2 to 0.3 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging up 0.2 percent.

Among major exporters, Canon is edging up 0.1 percent, while Sony and Panasonic is losing almost 1 percent each. Mitsubishi Electric is edging down 0.5 percent. Among the other major losers, Dentsu Group is losing more than 3 percent.

Conversely, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Fukuoka Financial and Tokyo Electric Power are gaining more than 4 percent each, while CyberAgent is adding more than 3 percent and Fujikura is up almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 138 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, the markets were off on Monday for the Thanksgiving Day holiday and will return to action on Friday.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. Germany's DAX climbed 0.78 percent and France's CAC 40 gained 0.42 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.02 percent.