Japanese Market Modestly Lower

The Japanese stock market is modestly lower on Wednesday after opening in the green, recouping some of the losses in the previous four sessions, with the benchmark Nikkei index below the 29,700 level, despite the broadly positive cues overnight from Wall Street, as traders reacted to weaker than expected domestic data.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 149.81 points or 0.50 percent at 29,658.31, after hitting a low of 29,623.79 earlier. Japanese stocks closed slightly higher on Tuesday.

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

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is gaining almost 4 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding almost 3 percent and Advantest is rising almost 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are flat, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing almost 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Panasonic is losing almost 1 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is down 1.5 percent, Canon is declining more than 1 percent and Sony is edging down 0.5 percent.

Among the other major losers, Pacific Metals plunging almost 5 percent, while Recruit Holdings and Hino Motors are sliding almost 4 percent each. Nikon, Kyowa Kirin and Sumitomo Osaka Cement are losing more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, Nitto Denko, Inpex, Citizen Watch and Sumco are losing almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, the value of core machine orders in Japan was down 0.4 billion yen or 0.0 percent in September, the Cabinet Office said on Wednesday, coming in at 838.9 billion yen. That missed expectations for an increase of 1.8 percent following the 2.4 percent decline in August. On a yearly basis, core machine orders rose 12.5 percent – again missing forecasts for an increase of 17.4 percent after rising 17.0 percent in the previous month. For the third quarter of 2021, core machine orders rose 0.7 percent on quarter and 13.3 percent on year. For the fourth quarter, orders are forecast to gain 3.1 percent both on quarter and on year.

Japan also posted a merchandise trade deficit of 67.370 billion yen in October, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday. That exceeded expectations for a shortfall of 310 billion following the downwardly revised 624,1 billion yen deficit in September (originally a deficit of 622.8 billion yen). Exports were up 9.4 percent on year at 7.184 trillion yen, shy of expectations for an increase of 9.9 percent following the 13.0 percent gain in the previous month. Imports climbed an annual 267 percent to 7.251 trillion yen versus expectations for a gain of 31.9 percent and slowing from 38.6 percent a month earlier.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 114 yen-range on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday after ending the previous session roughly flat The major averages all moved to the upside on the day, although buying interest waned as the trading day progressed. The Dow and the S&P 500 pulled back well off their highs in late-day trading, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq remained firmly positive.

The Nasdaq advanced 120.01 points or 0.8 percent to 15,973.86, just shy of the record closing high set last Monday. The S&P 500 also ended the day just below its record closing high, up 181.0 points or 0.4 percent to 4,700.90. Meanwhile, the Dow ended the day up 54.77 points or 0.2 percent at 36,142.22 after rising by more than 200 points earlier in the session.

Meanwhile, the major European markets finished the session mixed. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index dipped 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index rose 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index climbed 0.6 percent.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Tuesday, weighed down by a forecast by the International Energy Agency that global crude output will rise and help ease tight supplies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended lower by $0.12 or 0.2 percent at $80.76 a barrel.

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