Japanese Market Notably Lower

The Japanese stock market is notably lower on Friday, after two straight sessions of modest gains, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 just above the 28,900 level, following the negative cues overnight from Wall Street. Concerns about the extension of the COVID-19 state of emergency in several major areas are weighing on the market.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 153.00 points or 0.53 percent to 28,905.11, after hitting a low of 28,764.68 earlier. Japanese shares closed modestly higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.4 percent, Toyota is adding almost 1 percent and Mazda is gaining almost 3 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Screen Holdings are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is losing more than 1 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is flat, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are edging down 0.4 percent each.

Among major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric and Sony are flat, while Panasonic and Canon are edging down 0.4 percent each.

Among the other major losers, M3 is losing almost 5 percent and Sumitomo Metal Mining is down more than 3 percent, while Takara Holdings, Fanuc, Yaskawa Electric, Trend Micro and Yamato Holdings are declining almost 3 percent each. Recruit Holdings, Toto, Denka, CyberAgent and Tokyu Fudosan Holdings are losing more than 2 percent each.

Conversely, Oji Holdings, Citizen Watch and Keisei Electric Railway are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Dai Nippon Printing, IHI, Tosoh, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, NGK Insulators, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, Mitsui Chemicals, Marui Group, Seiko Epson, JFE Holdings and Hitachi are all down almost 2 percent each.

In economic news, the average of household spending in Japan was up 13.0 percent on year in April, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday – coming in at 310,043 yen. That blew away forecasts for an increase of 9.3 percent following the 6.2 percent gain in March. On a monthly basis, household spending rose 0.1 percent – again exceeding expectations for a decline of 2.2 percent following the 7.2 percent jump in the previous month. The average of monthly income per household stood at 543,063 yen, up 2.8 percent on year.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 110 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks staged a recovery attempt but still ended Thursday’s trading mostly lower, after coming under pressure early in the session. The Dow posted a modest loss on the day, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed sharply lower.

The Dow edged down just 23.34 points or 0.1 percent to 34,577.04 after tumbling by more than 250 points in early trading. The Nasdaq slumped 141.82 points or 1 percent to 13,614.51 and the S&P 500 fell 15.27 points or 0.4 percent to 4,192.85.

The major European markets also ended the day mixed. While the German DAX Index edged up by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.2 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil futures settled roughly flat on Thursday after two straight days of strong gains as traders reacted to inventory data and weighed energy demand prospects. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended down $0.02 at $68.81 a barrel.

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