Japanese Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - Giving up some of the gains in the previous two sessions, the Japanese market is modestly lower on Thursday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling below the 38,300 level, with weakness across most sectors led by index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 125.37 points or 0.33 percent to 38,246.39, after hitting a low of 37,970.20 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging down 0.5 percent, while Honda is edging up 0.3 percent.

In the tech space, Tokyo Electron is losing more than 1 percent, Screen Holdings slipping more than 2 percent and Advantest is edging down 0.5 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.3 percent and Mizuho Financial is declining almost 1 percent. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is flat.

Among the major exporters, Canon is edging down 0.1 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is losing more than 1 percent and Sony is declining 1.5 percent, while Panasonic is edging up 0.1 percent.

Among other major losers, Nidec is losing more than 4 percent and ZOZO is sliding almost 4 percent, while Rakuten Group, Shiseido and Sumitomo Pharma are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Sompo Holdings and Taiyo Yuden are gaining almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 144 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly lower during trading on Wednesday, with weakness in the tech sector weighing on the broader markets. With the downward move on the day, the Dow pulled back off the record closing high set on Tuesday.

The major averages climbed well off their worst levels in the latter part of the session but remained in the red. The tech-heavy Nasdaq slumped 198.79 points or 1.1 percent to 17,556.03, the S&P 500 slid 33.62 points or 0.6 percent to 5,592.18 and the Dow fell 159.08 points or 0.4 percent to 41,091.42.

Meanwhile, European stocks moved mostly higher on the day. The German DAX Index climbed by 0.5 and the French CAC 40 Index edged up by 0.2 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just below the unchanged line.

Crude oil prices dropped Wednesday on concerns about the outlook for global oil demand, and on data showing a much smaller than expected drop in U.S. crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October sank $1.01 or 1.34 percent at $74.52 a barrel.