The Japanese stock market is trading modestly lower on Friday, giving up the slight gains of the previous session, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 staying above the 27,600 level, following the broadly negative cues overnight from Wall Street and as traders remain spooked by the record rise in coronavirus infections, which continues to stifle economic activity in most cities in the country, with eight more prefectures put under state of emergency.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 133.25 points or 0.48 percent to 27,609.04, after hitting a low of 27,481.23 earlier. Japanese shares closed slightly higher on Thursday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda and Toyota are edging down 0.6 percent each.
In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 1 percent and Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.5 percent, while Screen Holdings is edging down 0.2 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are edging down 0.5 percent each.
Among major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric and Panasonic are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Canon and Sony are losing almost 1 percent each.
Among the other major losers, Mitsui E&S Holdings and Ebara are losing almost 3 percent each, while NEXON, Terumo, Sapporo Holdings, Toyota Tsusho and Idemitsu Kosan are down more than 2 percent each.
Conversely, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines is gaining more than 7 percent, while Nippon Yusen K.K. and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha are adding more than 4 percent. Yamaha Motor and Shiseido are up more than 2 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the 110 yen-range on Friday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed weak on Thursday, retreating from record highs, as investors stayed quite wary of making significant moves as they looked ahead to comments from Fed officials at the annual Jackson Hole symposium on Friday.
Among the major averages, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq suffered their first losses in six sessions. The Dow ended down by 192.38 points or 0.54 percent at 35,213.12. The S&P 500 settled at 4,470.00 with a loss of 26.19 points or 0.58%, while the Nasdaq declined 96.05 points or 0.64 percent to settle at 14,945.81.
The major European markets also closed lower on the day as uncertainty about U.S. monetary policy, and weak economic data from Germany weighed on sentiment. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 ended 0.35 percent down, Germany’s DAX slid 0.42 percent and France’s CAC 40 lost 0.16 percent.
Crude oil futures settled notably lower on Thursday amid worries about outlook for energy demand due to a surge in coronavirus cases in several countries. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended down by $0.94 or about 1.4 percent at $67.42 a barrel.
Market Analysis
Japanese Market Modestly Lower
2021-08-27 02:34:10
