Japanese Market Modestly Lower

The Japanese stock market is trading modestly lower on Friday, giving up some of the gains in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 staying just above the 29,600 level, despite the mostly positive cues overnight from Wall Street, as traders were booking profits after the recent rally. Traders are also cautious after the recent general elections amid political and policy uncertainties.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 183.28 points or 0.62 percent to 29,611.09, after hitting a low of 29,579.57 earlier. Japanese shares closed significantly higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing 1.5 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing almost 3 percent and Toyota is down more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is edging up 0.3 percent, Tokyo Electron is gaining more than 1 percent and Screen Holdings is up almost 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing almost 2 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is down more than 1 percent and Mizuho Financial is declining almost 2 percent.

Among major exporters, Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric are slipping more than 1 percent each, while Canon is losing almost 1 percent. Sony is flat.

Among the other major losers, Nikon is plunging more than 8 percent, Tokai Carbon is losing almost 7 percent and Showa Denko K.K. is down more than 6 percent, while Terumo and Daikin Industries are sliding almost 5 percent each. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines is declining 4.5 percent, while, Keio, Mitsubishi Motors, Mazda Motor and Kobe Steel are slipping more than 4 percent each. Tokyu Fudosan Holdings, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha and Nippon Steel are down almost 4 percent.

Conversely, Sumco is soaring almost 8 percent, Konami Holdings is surging more than 6 percent and Ajinomoto is gaining almost 3 percent.

In economic news, the average of household spending in Japan was down 1.9 percent on year in September, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday, coming in at 265,306 yen. That beat forecasts for a drop of 3.9 percent following the 3.0 percent decline in August. On a monthly basis, household spending jumped 5.0 percent – again exceeding expectations for a gain of 2.8 percent following the 3.9 percent drop in the previous month. The average of monthly income per household stood at 481,800 yen, up 2.5 percent on year.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 113 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday, extending a recent upward trend. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs during trading on Thursday. The narrower Dow bucked the uptrend, however, with the blue chip index closing modestly lower.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 128.72 points or 0.8 percent to 15,940.31 and the S&P 500 rose 19.39 points or 0.4 percent to 4,680.06, while the Dow climbed well off its worst levels going into the close but still edged down 33.35 points or 0.1 percent to 3,612.23.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.5 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index both rose by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices tumbled and settled at their lowest level in nearly a month on Thursday after OPEC decided to stick with its plan to raise oil output modestly and gradually. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended lower by $2.05 or 2.5 percent at $78.81 a barrel.

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