Japanese Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is trading sharply lower on Thursday, reversing some of the gains in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling to near the 65,150 level, with weakness in technology stocks and a mixed performance across most other sectors, partially offset by gains in financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 1,143.31 points or 1.72 percent to 65,157.13, after hitting a low of 65,116.31 earlier. Japanese stocks ended sharply higher on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 5 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is up almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining almost 2 percent, while Honda is down almost 1 percent.

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

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is advancing almost 2 percent.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 2 percent, while Sony and Canon are adding more than 1 percent each. Panasonic is losing more than 3 percent.

Among other major losers, Taiyo Yuden plunging almost 10 percent and Kioxia Holdings is tumbling more than 9 percent, while Furukawa Electric and Fujikura are slipping almost 8 percent each. Minebea Mitsumi is sliding almost 7 percent, while Sumco, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ibiden, Murata Manufacturing, Mitsui Kinzoku and Lasertec are declining almost 6 percent each. Resonac Holdings and TDK are losing almost 5 percent each.

Conversely, Tokai Carbon is skyrocketing almost 15 percent and Omron is soaring more than 12 percent, while Mercari and Kikkoman are jumping more than 11 percent each. Kao and Meiji Holdings are surging more than 10 percent each, while Sumitomo Metal Mining is advancing more than 6 percent and Astellas Pharma is gaining almost 5 percent. OKUMA and Dowa Holdings are adding almost 4 percent each, while Nomura Research Institute, Mitsubishi Materials, Ryohin Keikaku, Nitori Holdings and Kubota are all up more than 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 157 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks extended their recent upward move in early trading on Wednesday but came under pressure over the course of the session. The major averages pulled back well off their highs of the session, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 sliding into negative territory.

The major averages saw further downside going into the end of the day. While the Dow remained positive, climbing 263.24 points or 0.5 percent to 54,349.12, the S&P 500 dipped 12.97 points or 0.2 percent at 7,723.55 and the Nasdaq slid 221.55 points or 0.8 percent to 26,363.44.

The major European markets also turned mixed over the course of the session. While the German DAX Index fell by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index closed just above the unchanged line and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices were down for a third straight day on Wednesday on continued optimism for the reopening of Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $0.49 or 0.65 percent at $75.28 per barrel.