Japanese Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - Adding to the slight losses in the previous session, the Japanese stock market is notably lower on Thursday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling below the 38,000 mark, with weakness across most sectors led by index heavyweights and exporter stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 247.22 points or 0.63 percent to 38,960.81, after hitting a low of 38,876.81 earlier. Japanese shares ended slightly lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.4 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging down 0.3 percent and Honda is gaining almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while Screen Holdings is losing more than 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Canon is edging up 0.5 percent, while Panasonic is losing more than 1 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is declining almost 1 percent and Sony are down almost 2 percent.

Among other major losers, Tokyo Gas and Tokyo Electric Power are declining more than 3 percent each, while Ajinomoto is losing almost 3 percent.

Conversely, Nomura Holdings, Aozora Bank is soaring almost 12 percent and Seven & I Holdings is surging almost 6 percent, while Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha and Alps Alpine are gaining more than 3 percent each. Hoya is adding almost 3 percent.

In economic news, industrial production in Japan was down a seasonally adjusted 7.5 percent on month in January, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry or METI, said on Thursday. That missed forecasts for a decline of 6.7 percent following the 1.4 percent increase in December. On a yearly basis, industrial production sank 1.5 percent after shedding 0.7 percent in the previous month. Upon the release of the data, the METI downgraded its assessment of industrial production, saying that it continues to fluctuate indecisively but that it has weakened. According to the METI's forecast of industrial production, output is expected to rise 4.8 percent on month in February and 2.0 percent in March.

The METI also said the total value of retail sales in Japan was up 2.3 percent on year in January - coming in at 13.141 trillion yen. That beat forecasts for an increase of 2.0 percent following the upwardly revised 2.4 percent gain in December. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail sales rose 0.8 percent after sinking 2.6 percent a month earlier.

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

On Wall Street, stocks regained ground after an early move to the downside on Wednesday but still ended the day mostly lower. The major averages all finished the day in negative territory following the mixed performance on Tuesday, with the Dow closing lower for the third consecutive session.

After falling by more than 200 points in early trading, the Dow ended the day down just 23.39 points or 0.1 percent at 38,949.02. The S&P 500 dipped 8.42 points or 0.2 percent to 5,069.76, while the Nasdaq slid 87.56 points or 0.6 percent at 15,947.74.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index inched up by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index rose by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices fell on Wednesday after data showed a much larger than expected increase in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended down $0.33 or 0.42 percent at $78.54 a barrel.