The Japanese stock market is notably lower on Thursday, giving up the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 above the 27,400 level, following the broadly negative cues overnight from Wall Street, as the unprecedented spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus continues to stifle economic activity in most of the cities in the country.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 170.41 points or 0.62 percent to 27,415.50, after hitting a low of 27,357.54 earlier. Japanese shares ended notably higher on Wednesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.4 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.3 percent. Among automakers, Toyota and Honda are losing almost 1 percent each.
In the tech space, Advantest is losing almost 2 percent, Tokyo Electron is declining more than 2 percent and Screen Holdings is down almost 5 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.4 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is declining more than 1 percent and Mizuho Financial is losing almost 1 percent.
The major exporters are mostly lower. Sony is losing more than 1 percent, Canon is declining almost 3 percent and Panasonic is down 3.5 percent. Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.1 percent.
Among the other major losers, Showa Denko K.K.is losing almost 6 percent, Tokai Carbon is down more than 5 percent and Citizen Watch is lower by almost 5 percent, while Mitsui & Co., Mitsui E&S Holdings and Nippon Steel are declining more than 4 percent each. JFE Holdings and Toho Zinc are down 3.5 percent each, while Fujikura, Inpex, JFE Holdings, Mitsubishi Materials, Mitsui Mining & Smelting and Ebara are lower by more than 3 percent each.
Conversely, Chugai Pharmaceutical is gaining more than 4 percent, while Shionogi & Co, Z Holdings, Daiichi Sankyo, CyberAgent, NTT Data and Alps Alpine are adding more than 3 percent each. Astellas Pharma is up more than 2 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the 110 yen-range on Thursday.
On Wall Street, stocks saw considerable volatility following the release of the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting on Wednesday before moving sharply lower going into the close. With the late-day sell-off, the major averages extended the notable drop seen in the previous session.
The major averages finished the session just off their worst levels of the day. The Dow plunged 382.59 points or 1.1 percent to 34,960.69, the Nasdaq slumped 130.27 points or 0.9 percent to 14,525.91 and the S&P 500 tumbled 47.81 points or 1.1 percent to 4,400.27.
Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in another mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index rose by 0.3 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.2 percent and the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.7 percent.
Crude oil prices drifted lower Wednesday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid the surge in the delta variant of the coronavirus in several countries. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended down $1.13 or 1.7 percent at $65.46 a barrel, the lowest close since May 21.
Market Analysis
Japanese Market Notably Lower
2021-08-19 02:27:21
