The Japanese stock market is trading modestly lower on Friday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 just below the 28,600 level, following the broadly negative cues overnight from Wall Street, as traders booked profits after the recent rally and on news of Chinese property developer Evergrande defaulting on US dollar bonds.
Traders are also concerned after several countries across the world announced stricter restrictions on movements to curb the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 130.98 points or 0.46 percent to 28,594.49, after hitting a low of 28,483.63 earlier. Japanese shares closed modestly lower on Thursday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is flat. Among automakers, Honda and Toyota are edging down 0.3 percent each.
In the tech space, Advantest is losing almost 2 percent, Tokyo Electron is edging down 0.4 percent and Screen Holdings is declining more than 1 percent.
In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging down 0.2 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is flat.
Among major exporters, Panasonic is gaining 1.5 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is adding more than 1 percent, while Sony is edging down 0.5 percent. Canon is flat.
Among the other major losers, Recruit Holdings is sliding more than 5 percent and Mitsubishi Motors is losing almost 4 percent, while BANDAI NAMCO Holdings and Citizen Watch are down more than 3 percent each.
Conversely, Toppan is gaining almost 5 percent.
In economic news, producer prices in Japan were up 0.6 percent on month in November, the Bank of Japan said on Friday. That exceeded expectations for an increase of 0.3 percent following the upwardly revised 1.4 percent gain in October (originally 1.2 percent). On a yearly basis, producer prices soared 9.0 percent – again beating forecasts for 8.5 percent and up from 8.0 percent in the previous month.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid-113 yen-range on Friday.
On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading session on Thursday, giving back ground after closing higher for three straight days. The Nasdaq showed a significant moves to the downside, while the Dow ended the day nearly flat.
The Nasdaq tumbled 269.62 points or 1.7 percent to 15,517.37 and the S&P 500 slid 33.76 points or 0.7 percent to 4,667.45. Meanwhile, the Dow edged down by just 0.06 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 35,754.69.
The major European markets all also moved modestly lower on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index dipped by 0.2 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.
Crude oil settled lower Thursday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand following several countries imposing fresh restrictions on movements to curb the spread of Omicron. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January sank $1.42 or 2 percent at $70.94 a barrel.
Market Analysis
Japanese Market Modestly Lower
2021-12-10 02:27:30
