Japanese Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - Reversing the gains in the previous session, the Japanese stock market is trading modestly lower on Friday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark Nikkei 225 is falling to be a tad above the 38,100 level, with weakness across most sectors led by index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 110.77 points or 0.29 percent to 38,100.24, after hitting a low of 38,082.90 earlier. Japanese stocks closed significantly higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.5 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining almost 1 percent, while Toyota is edging down 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 3 percent, Tokyo Electron is declining almost 2 percent and Screen Holdings is down more than 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are edging up 0.5 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.3 percent.

Among major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric and Sony are edging down 0.3 to 0.5 percent each, while Canon and Panasonic is edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each.

Among other major losers, Lasertec is declining almost 4 percent and Socionext is losing almost 3 percent.

Conversely, Sharp is surging more than 5 percent, while Shimizu and Taisei are gaining more than 4 percent each. Marui Group is advancing more than 3 percent, while Orix and Nichirei are adding almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 145 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks came under considerable selling pressure over the course of the trading session on Thursday after failing to sustain an early move to the upside. The major averages pulled back well off their early highs and firmly into negative territory.

The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 finished the day just off their lows of the session. The Nasdaq tumbled 299.63 points or 1.7 percent to 17,619.35, the S&P 500 slumped 50.21 points or 0.9 percent to 5,570.64 and the Dow fell 177.71 points or 0.4 percent to 40,712.78.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. The German DAX Index rose by 0.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent, although the French CAC 40 Index closed just below the unchanged line.

Crude oil prices have seen a notable rebound during trading on Thursday, regaining ground following the sell-off seen over the past several sessions. After plummeting by 8.0 percent over the four previous sessions, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September jumped $1.01 to 1.4 percent to $72.94 a barrel.