Japanese Market Notably Lower

Reversing the gains in the previous session, the Japanese stock market is notably lower on Friday, following the lack of cues from Wall Street and despite the positive cues from European markets overnight. The benchmark Nikkei 225 is falling to near the 38,100 level, with weakness in automakers, exporters and technology stocks partially offset gains in financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 241.27 points or 0.63 percent to 38,107.79, after hitting a low of 37,986.97 earlier. Japanese stocks closed notably higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.3 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.5 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing almost 1 percent and Toyota is declining more than 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 1 percent, Screen Holdings is declining more than 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is slipping almost 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging up 0.2 percent.

Among major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is losing almost 1 percent, Sony is down almost 1 percent, Canon is edging down 0.4 percent and Panasonic is declining more than 2 percent.

Among other major losers, Nissan Motor is losing more than 3 percent, while DeNA, Sumco, Disco, Isuzu Motors, OKUMA and Nissan Motor are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Furukawa Electric is gaining more than 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 150 yen-range on Friday.

The Wall Street was closed on account of Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. The shares closed notably higher on Wednesday.

The major European markets moved to the upside on the day. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 edged up 0.08 percent, Germany’s DAX climbed 0.85 percent and France’s CAC 40 closed up 0.51 percent.

Market Analysis