Japanese Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is modestly lower on Friday, giving up some of the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 falling to a tad above the 27,600 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders are concerned about interest rate hikes by the US Fed after the recent release of upbeat US economic data.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 93.79 points or 0.34 percent to 27,602.65, after hitting a low of 27,466.61 earlier. Japanese stocks closed significantly higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing 1.5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.5 percent, while Toyota is edging down 0.3 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 1 percent, while Tokyo Electron and Screen Holdings are down almost 1 percent each. In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is edging down 0.1 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding almost 1 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging up 0.4 percent.

Among major exporters, Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Canon is gaining almost 1 percent. Sony is losing 1.5 percent. Among the other major losers, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is losing almost 4 percent, while Rakuten Group and M3 are declining almost 3 percent.

Conversely, Bridgestone is gaining almost 4 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 134 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower during trading on Thursday with hotter-than-expected inflation data leading to renewed concerns about the outlook for interest rates. The major averages showed a significant pullback after turning positive over the course of Wednesday's session.

The major averages regained ground after an initial sell-off but once again came under pressure in the final hour of trading. The Dow slumped 431.20 points or 1.3 percent to 33,696.85, the Nasdaq plunged 214.76 points or 1.8 percent to 11,855.83 and the S&P 500 tumbled 57.19 points or 1.4 percent at 4,090.41.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 0.9 percent, the German DAX and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both edged up by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Thursday, extending losses to a third straight session on recent data showing a surge in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended down $0.10 at $78.49 a barrel.