Japanese Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - Extending the losses in the previous session, the Japanese market is sharply lower on Thursday, following the mixed cues from global markets overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling to near the 40,300 level, with weakness across most sectors led by index heavyweights and technology stocks, which mirrored their peers on tech-heavy Nasdaq. Financial stocks were the only bright spot.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 762.04 points or 1.85 percent to 40,335.65, after hitting a low of 40,112.56 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.5 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing almost 3 percent and Honda is declining more than 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 4 percent, Tokyo Electron is plummeting almost 10 percent and Screen Holdings is plunging more than 8 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining almost 1 percent, Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding more than 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Sony and Mitsubishi Electric are declining more than 2 percent each, while Canon is edging down 0.5 percent and Panasonic is losing almost 1 percent.

Among other major losers, Disco is plummeting more than 8 percent and Socionext is plunging more than 6 percent, while Renesas Electronics and Lasertec are losing almost 6 percent each. Mazda Motor, Fujikura, Resonac Holdings and Sumco are declining almost 5 percent each, while Ebara and Hoya are slipping more than 4 percent each, while SMC is down almost 4 percent.

Conversely, Nichirei is gaining more than 5 percent, while Nitori Holdings and Kansai Electric Power are adding more than 3 percent each. Asahi Group is up almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 156 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a mixed performance on Wednesday with geopolitical concerns and profit warning from Dutch semiconductor firm ASML rendering the mood cautious. Among the major averages, the Dow moved on to a new high, while the tech-laden Nasdaq ended sharply lower.

The Dow ended with a gain of 243.60 points or 0.59 percent at 41,198.08. The S&P 500 settled with a loss of 78.93 points or 1.39 percent at 5,588.27, while the Nasdaq dropped 512.42 points or 2.77% to 17,996.92.

The major European markets also closed mixed on the day. Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 closed lower by 0.44 percent and 0.12 percent, respectively. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.28 percent.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Wednesday after data showed an unexpected sharp drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, while a weaker dollar also provided support. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August rallied $2.09 or 2.6 percent at $82.85 a barrel.