Japanese Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - Extending the losses in the previous two sessions, the Japanese market is notably lower on Friday, following the mixed cues from European markets and lack of cues from Wall Street overnight as they were closed. The Nikkei 225 is falling well below the 39,300 level, with weakness across most sectors led by index heavyweights and financial stocks. Technology stocks are the only bright spot.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 261.11 points or 0.66 percent to 39,343.98, after hitting a low of 39,166.05 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is declining almost 7 percent after reporting weaker-than-expected results in China. Among automakers, Toyota is edging down 0.3 percent and Honda is losing almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining more than 5 percent, Screen Holdings is adding more than 1 percent and Tokyo Electron is advancing almost 2 percent.

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

Among the major exporters, Panasonic is edging down 0.5 percent, while Canon and Sony are losing almost 1 percent each. Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.1 percent.

Among other major losers, Mitsui Mining & Smelting is losing more than 6 percent, while Chugai Pharmaceutical and T&D Holdings are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Furukawa Electric are gaining almost 5 percent each, while Japan Steel Works is adding more than 4 percent. Fujikura and Shionogi & Co. are advancing more than 3 percent each, while Ebara is up almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 158 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, the markets were closed on Thursday in honor of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who died in late December at age 100.

Meanwhile, the major European markets ended mixed on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 0.8 percent and the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.5 percent, while the German DAX Index edged down 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices moved higher Thursday amid optimism about the outlook for global oil demand, and potential supply shortage due to the sanctions on Iranian and Russian crude exports. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled higher by $0.60 or 0.82 percent at $73.92 a barrel.