Japanese Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - Giving up some of the strong gains in the previous session, the Japanese stock market is notably lower in choppy trading on Friday, despite the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight. The benchmark Nikkei 225 is falling below the 36,600 level, with weakness in some index heavyweights as traders react to Bank of Japan board members' comment that the central bank must push up short-term rates to at least around 1% through fiscal 2026 to stably achieve the 2% inflation target.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 236.74 points or 0.64 percent to 36,596.53, after touching a high of 36,887.40 earlier. Japanese stocks closed sharply higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing almost 1 percent and Toyota is declining almost 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining more than 1 percent and Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.5 percent, while Screen Holdings is edging down 0.3 percent.

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

Among major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 1 percent, while Sony is declining almost 1 percent, Canon is losing more than 2 percent and Panasonic is slipping more than 1 percent.

Among other major losers, Astellas Pharma and NEXON are declining more than 3 percent each, while CyberAgent, Konami Group, NEC, Ajinomoto and Minebea Mitsumi are losing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Kawasaki Heavy Industries is surging more than 8 percent, Isetan Mitsukoshi is gaining almost 4 percent and Ebara is adding more than 3 percent, while Socionext, Shiseido and Disco are advancing almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 141 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved notably higher over the course of the trading day on Thursday after turning in a lacklustre performance early in the session. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 added to strong gains posted in Wednesday's session, closing higher for the fourth straight day.

The major averages all finished the day firmly in positive territory. The Nasdaq jumped 174.15 points or 1.0 percent to 17,569.68, the S&P 500 advanced 41.63 points or 0.8 percent to 5,595.76 and the Dow climbed 235.06 points or 0.6 percent to 41,096.77.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index jumped by 1.0 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday amid reports of supply cuts in facilities along the Gulf of Mexico due to the impact of Hurricane Francine, despite the International Energy Agency lowering its oil demand forecast for the year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended up by $1.66 or nearly 2.5 percent at $68.97 a barrel.