Japanese Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is sharply lower on Friday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 falling to stay a tad above the 27,600 level, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, with weakness across all sectors, led by technology stocks, as rising concerns about global economic growth due to surging interest rates dented sentiment. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 446.58 points or 1.59 percent to 27,605.12, after hitting a low of 27,588.99. Japanese stocks closed modestly lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 4 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is declining more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.4 percent and Toyota is declining more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is declining more than 3 percent, Screen Holdings is losing almost 1 percent and Tokyo Electron is slipping almost 4 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.5 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining almost 1 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding more than 1 percent.

Among major exporters, Canon is edging down 0.4 percent, while Sony and Mitsubishi Electric are declining more than 1 percent each. Panasonic is flat. Among the other major losers, CyberAgent and Yaskawa Electric are losing more than 3 percent each, while M3, Z Holdings, NTN and Credit Saison are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major gainers.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 137 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower during trading on Thursday, extending the pullback seen over the course of the previous session. With the sell-off on the day, the major averages slumped to their lowest closing levels in over a month.

The major averages climbed off their lows of the session in late-day trading but remained firmly negative. The Dow tumbled 764.13 points or 2.3 percent to 33,202.22, the Nasdaq plunged 360.36 points or 3.2 percent to 10,810.53 and the S&P 500 dove 99.57 points or 2.5 percent to 3,895.75.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.9 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index plunged by 3.1 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Thursday as concerns about easing supply following a partial restart of the Keystone Pipeline. The dollar's rise on hawkish comments by the Federal Reserve weighed as well on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended lower by $1.17 or 1.5 percent at $76.11 a barrel.