The Japanese stock market is sharply lower on Thursday, giving up some of the gains in the previous four sessions, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 staying just above the 26,200 level, despite the broadly positive cues overnight from Wall Street, as technology stocks mirrored the recent weakness of their peers on Nasdaq and following the downbeat results from Facebook owner Meta Platforms.
Trades also remain concerned about the sharp spike in domestic new coronavirus infections, with daily new COVID-19 cases in Japan surging to a new record on Wednesday after it topped the 90,000 mark for the first time to push hospitals and clinics to the breaking point. The daily new cases also hit record highs each day since last two weeks. Tokyo breached the 20,000 mark in daily new cases for the first time.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 333.20 points or 1.21 percent to 27,200.40, after hitting a low of 27,165.93 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Wednesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is flat and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 4 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining almost 1 percent and Honda is gaining more than 2 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 3 percent, while Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron are declining more than 2 percent each.
In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is losing almost 2 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is down almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging down 0.2 percent.
The major exporters are mixed. Sony and Panasonic are plunging almost 7 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is losing almost 1 percent. Canon is gaining more than 2 percent.
Among the other major losers, NH Foods is plunging almost 10 percent, M3 is sliding more than 8 percent, Casio Computer is down almost 7 percent and CyberAgent is down almost 5 percent, while Omron and Kawasaki Heavy Industries are slipping more than 4 percent each.
Conversely, Konica Minolta is gaining more than 5 percent, while Denso and Toyota Tsusho are adding almost 5 percent each. Yamaha Motor and NTN are up more than 4 percent each, while Sojitz, Tokyo Electric Power and Shionogi & Co. are rising almost 4 percent each.
In economic news, the services sector in Japan dropped into contraction territory in January, the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed on Thursday with a services PMI score of 47.6. That’s down from 52.1 in December and it moves beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also showed that the composite PMI sank to 49.9 in January from 52.5 in December.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 114 yen-range on Thursday.
On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Wednesday, extending the strong upward move seen over the three previous sessions. With the continued advance, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 climbed further off last week’s multi-month lows.
The major averages all finished the day firmly in positive territory. The Dow climbed 224.09 points or 0.6 percent at 35,629.33, the Nasdaq rose 71.54 points or 0.5 percent to 14,417.55 and the S&P 500 advanced 42.84 points or 0.9 percent to 4,589.38.
The major European markets also moved mostly higher on the day, although the German DAX Index closed just below the unchanged line. The French CAC 40 Index edged up by 0.2 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.6 percent.
Crude oil futures inched higher Wednesday, supported by data showing a drop in U.S. crude stockpiles last week. However, the rise was just marginal as OPEC and its allies approved another 400,000 barrels per day in production that will begin in March. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended up by $0.06 or 0.1 percent at $88.26 a barrel.
Market Analysis
Japanese Market Sharply Lower
2022-02-03 02:35:18
