Japanese Market Sharply Lower

The Japanese stock market is sharply lower on Thursday, snapping a seven-session winning streak, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 falling below the 27,700 level, following the broadly negative cues overnight from Wall Street, as traders booked profits after the recent winning streak with stocks slipping across all sectors.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 309.81 points or 1.10 percent to 27,730.35, after touching a high of 26,702.94 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.4 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing more than 2 percent, while Toyota is advancing almost 1 percent after it announced plans for a 100 billion yen share buyback.

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

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

The major exporters are higher. Sony is losing almost 2 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is edging down 0.3 percent, Panasonic is slipping almost 3 percent and Canon is edging down 0.5 percent.

Among the other major losers, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is plunging more than 8 percent, while Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and Nippon Yusen K.K. are sliding almost 7 percent each. Daiwa Securities is slipping more than 4 percent, while NEXON and Kubota are losing almost 4 percent each. Obayashi, Shimizu, Recruit Holdings, Kikkoman, Aeon, M3, Z Holdings and Omron are all down almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Pacific Metals is soaring almost 8 percent, while Toho Zinc and Inpex are gaining more than 3 percent each.

In economic news, members of the Bank of Japan’s Monetary Policy Board said that Japan’s economic recovery is continuing at a satisfactory pace in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, minutes from the bank’s January 17-18 meeting revealed on Thursday. Corporate profits and business sentiment continue to improve, the minutes showed, although employment and income remain weak. To that end, the board said it finds it appropriate to maintain its current monetary easing and support stability in the financial markets.

At the meeting, the BoJ voted 8-1 to maintain its monetary policy stimulus unchanged at -0.1 percent on current accounts that financial institutions maintain at the central bank. It also lifted its inflation forecast for the next fiscal year, citing a rise in commodity prices.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 121 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a significant move back to the downside during trading on Wednesday following the strong upward move seen in the previous session. With the pullback on the day, the major averages largely offset yesterday’s gains.

The major averages ended the session at their worst levels of the day. The Dow plunged 448.96 points or 1.3 percent to 34,358.50, the Nasdaq tumbled 186.21 points or 1.3 percent to 13,922.60 and the S&P 500 slumped 55.37 points or 1.2 percent to 4,456.24.

The major European markets also moved mostly lower on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index tumbled by 1.2 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

Crude oil futures settled at over two-week highs on Wednesday, lifted by data showing a drop in U.S. crude inventories and worries about supply disruptions due to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $5.66 or 5.2 percent at $114.93 a barrel.

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