Japanese Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is notably lower on Thursday, Giving up some of the gains in the previous three sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling below the 39,100 level, with weakness in index heavyweights, exporters and technology stocks as traders are cautious ahead of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy decision.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 180.93 points or 0.46 percent to 39,096.46, after hitting a low of 38,987.33 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly higher on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is also down more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing almost 1 percent and Honda is also down almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Tokyo Electron is losing almost 2 percent and Screen Holdings is declining 2.5 percent, while Advantest is surging almost 6 percent after boosting its profit forecasts amid strong demand for its AI-related testing tools.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial edging up 0.1 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging down 0.1 to 0.2 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Canon and Panasonic are losing 1.5 percent each, while Sony is down almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is edging down 0.5 percent.

Among other major losers, M3 is plummeting more than 13 percent, Kyocera is plunging more than 11 percent, Nomura Research Institute is sliding more than 8 percent and Hitachi is slipping almost 8 percent, while Nidec and CyberAgent are declining more than 6 percent each. Renesas Electronics is losing almost 6 percent, while Alps Alpine and Hino Motors are down more than 4 percent each. Kansai Electric Power is losing almost 4 percent, while Omron, Mitsubishi Logistics, Sumitomo Pharma, Tokyo Electric Power and TDK are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Mitsubishi Motors is soaring almost 10 percent, Tokyo Gas is gaining more than 5 percent and Oriental Land is adding almost 4 percent.

In economic news, the value of retail sales in Japan was up 0.5 percent on year in September, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry or METI, said on Thursday - coming in at 13.489 trillion yen. That missed forecasts for an increase of 2.1 percent and was down from 3.1 percent in the previous month. On a monthly basis, sales slipped 2.3 percent after rising 1.0 percent in August. For the third quarter of 2024, sales rose 1.1 percent on quarter and 2.1 percent on year to 41.610 trillion yen.

The METI also said industrial production in Japan was up a seasonally adjusted 1.4 percent on month in September. That beat forecasts for an increase of 0.9 percent following the 3.3 percent contraction in August. On a yearly basis, industrial production was down 2.8 percent. Upon the release of the data, the METI maintained its assessment of industrial production, saying that it continues to fluctuate indecisively.

Further, the Bank of Japan will wrap up its monetary policy meeting on Thursday and then announce its decision on interest rates. The BoJ is expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 0.25 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 153 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction throughout much of the session on Wednesday but came under pressure in the latter part of the trading day. The major averages spent most of the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before sliding more firmly into negative territory.

After reaching a new record intraday high in early trading, the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 104.82 points or 0.6 percent to 18,607.93. The S&P 500 also dipped 19.25 points or 0.3 percent to 5,813.67, while the Dow slipped 91.51 points or 0.2 percent to 42,151.54.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both slumped by 1.1 percent.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Wednesday after data showed an unexpected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week and on reports that OPEC may delay its planned output increase. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December closed up $1.40 or 2.1 percent at $68.61 a barrel.