The Japanese stock market is marginally lower in choppy trading on Thursday, extending the sharp losses of the previous session, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 hovering around the 28,000 mark, as traders digest local core machine orders, imports, exports and trade balance data. The cues overnight from Wall Street were also negative.
According to reports, the Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has warned that downward pressure on economic activities due to the ongoing pandemic could grow stronger due to uncertainty over the pace of the country’s vaccination rollout. The Japanese economy shrank more than expected in the first three months of 2021.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 10.60 points or 0.04 percent to 28,033.85, after hitting a low of 27,821.96 and a high of 28,169.28 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly lower on Wednesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is flat and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.3 percent, while Toyota is flat.
In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 3 percent, Screen Holdings is adding more than 1 percent and Tokyo Electron is up almost 2 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are losing almost 1 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is down 0.5 percent.
The major exporters are mostly higher. Mitsubishi Electric is gaining more than 1 percent, while Sony and Canon are adding almost 1 percent each. Panasonic is down almost 1 percent.
Among the major losers, Nippon Steel and JFE Holdings are losing almost 5 percent each, while Sumitomo Metal Mining and Mitsui Mining & Smelting are down more than 4 percent each. Japan Steet and Kobe Steel are declining almost 4 percent each, while Impex, Tokai Carbon and Nexon are down more than 3 percent each.
Conversely, Taiyo Yuden is gaining almost 5 percent and Credit Saison is adding more than 4 percent, while Alps Alpine, Yamaha Motor, Toray Industries and Mazda Motor are up more than 3 percent each. GS Yuasa is rising almost 3 percent, while JTEKT, Fujitsu, Fuji Electric, Sharp, Oji Holdings, Teijin and Dentsu Group are all gaining more than 2 percent each.
In economic news, Japan posted a merchandise trade surplus of 255.3 billion yen in April, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday. That exceeded expectations for a surplus of 140 billion following the downwardly revised 662.2 billion yen surplus in March (originally 663.7 billion yen). Exports surged 38.0 percent on year to 7.181 trillion yen, beating forecasts for a gain of 30.9 percent after climbing 16.1 percent in the previous month. Imports advanced an annual 12.8 percent to 6.925 trillion yen versus expectations for a gain of 8.8 percent and up from 5.8 percent a month earlier.
Separately, the Cabinet Office said on Thursday that the value of core machine orders in Japan was up a seasonally adjusted 3.7 percent on month in March, coming in at 798.1 billion yen. That missed expectations for an increase of 6.4 percent following the 8.5 percent decline in February. On a yearly basis, core machine orders fell 2.0 percent – beating forecasts for a fall of 2.6 percent after sinking 7.1 percent a month earlier.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 109 yen-range on Thursday.
On Wall Street, stocks ended notably lower on Wednesday, as worries about inflation and the bitcoin’s sharp plunge weighed on the market, despite staging a fairly strong recovery from an early setback. But the market recovered after the bitcoin rebounded from the session’s lows.
The major averages saw further downside going into the close, ending the day just off their lows of the session. The Dow, which plunged more than 580 points to 33,473.80, recovered to close at 33,896.04 with a loss of 164.62 points or 0.48 percent. The S&P 500 finished with a loss of 12.15 points or 0.29 percent at 4,115.68, off the session’s low of 4,061.41, while the Nasdaq settled with a small loss of 3.90 points or 0.03 percent at 13,299.74, way off the day’s low of 13,072.23.
The major European markets also all moved to the downside on the day. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 shed 1.19 percent, Germany’s DAX declined 1.77 percent and France’s CAC 40 ended 1.43 percent lower.
Crude oil prices declined sharply on Wednesday, weighed down by an increase in U.S. crude stockpiles, and on worries about outlook for energy demand from Asian countries. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended down $2.13 or 3.3 percent at $63.36 a barrel.
Market Analysis
Japanese Market Marginally Lower In Choppy Trade
2021-05-20 02:38:12
