Japanese Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - Snapping a three-session winning streak, the Japanese market is trading sharply lower on Friday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling well below the 50,400 level, with weakness across most sectors led by exporters and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 650.49 points or 1.27 percent to 50,377.93, after hitting a low of 50,271.36 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 2 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down almost 2 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing almost 2 percent and Honda is also declining almost 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are declining more than 2 percent each, while Screen Holdings is losing more than 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.1 percent, Mizuho Financial is declining more than 1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing almost 1 percent.

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

Among other major losers, Trend Micro is tumbling more than 6 percent and Renesas Electronics is losing more than 4 percent, while Bridgestone and Fuji Electric are declining almost 4 percent each. Mazda Motor is slipping more than 3 percent, while Suzuki Motor, Dai Nippon Printing, Nintendo, Central Japan Railway, Komatsu and Aeon are down almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Sharp and Ibiden are gaining almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 154 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Thursday after moving higher over the two previous sessions. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closed narrowly mixed.

While the Nasdaq rose 51.04 points or 0.2 percent to 23,505.14 and the S&P 500 inched up 7.40 points or 0.1 percent to 6,857.12, the narrower Dow edged down 31.96 points or 0.1 percent to 47,850.94.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index advanced by 0.8 percent, the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged up by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices advanced on Thursday as expectations of an end to the Russia-Ukraine war dimmed. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was up $0.70 or 1.19 percent at $59.65 per barrel.