Japanese Market Modestly Lower

The Japanese stock market is modestly lower in choppy trading on Friday, extending the sharp losses in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 staying below the 32,200 level, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, as traders remain cautious and track the yen and bond yields after the Bank of Japan made adjustments to its yield curve control policy last week.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 32.56 points or 0.10 percent to 32,126.72, after hitting a low of 31,934.35 earlier. Japanese stocks closed sharply lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.5 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.5 percent, while Toyota is gaining 1.5 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is edging up 0.4 percent, Tokyo Electron is gaining 1.5 percent and Screen Holdings is adding almost 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding almost 1percent.

Among major exporters, Sony and Mitsubishi Electric are edging down 0.1 percent each, while Panasonic is losing more than 1 percent. Canon is edging up 0.3 percent.

Among other major losers, Furukawa Electric is plunging more than 8 percent, Kyowa Kirin is losing more than 5 percent and Asahi Kasei is down more than 3 percent, while GS Yuasa, Sumitomo Pharma and Nintendo are declining almost 3 percent each.
Asahi Kasei Corp.

Conversely, Z Holdings is soaring almost 12 percent, while Casio Computer and Yamato Holdings are surging more than 6 percent. CyberAgent and Kao are gaining more than 4 percent each. Konami Group is adding more than 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 142 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Thursday after an early move to the downside. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before closing modestly lower.

The Dow slipped 66.63 points or 0.2 percent to 35,215.89, the Nasdaq edged down 13.73 points or 0.1 percent to 13,959.72 and the S&P 500 dipped 11.50 points or 0.3 percent to 4,501.89.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index declined by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index slid by 0.7 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Thursday after Saudi Arabia announced that it would extend its production cut to next month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September climbed $2.06 or 2.6 percent at $81.66 a barrel.

Market Analysis