Japanese Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is modestly lower on Thursday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 29,100 level, despite the positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness in market heavyweights and financial stocks. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 56.79 points or 0.20 percent to 29,065.39, after hitting a low of 29,028.71 earlier. Japanese stocks closed notably lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.3 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging down 0.2 percent and Honda is losing almost 2 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is edging up 0.4 percent, Tokyo Electron is gaining more than 1 percent and Advantest is adding more than 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are edging down 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is losing almost 1 percent. Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric, Canon and Sony are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Panasonic is gaining 1.5 percent.

Among the other major losers, Sumitomo Metal Mining and Kyowa Kirin are plummeting more than 11 percent each, while Kao is plunging almost 6 percent and Konica Minolta is losing almost 5 percent. IHI, Nippon Sheet Glass, Mitsui Mining & Smelting, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mazda Motor and Asahi Kasei are down almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Tokyu Fudosan is soaring 8.5 percent and Yamato Holdings is surging almost 6 percent, while Nisshin Seifun and FUJIFILM are gaining more than 5 percent each. Rakuten Group is adding 4.5 percent and ENEOS is up more than 3 percent.

In economic news, Japan had a current account surplus of 2.278 trillion yen in March, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday - down 29.6 percent on year. That was shy of expectations for a surplus of 2.947 trillion yen and up from 2.197 trillion yen in February.

Imports were up 7.1 percent on year at 9.242 trillion yen, while exports rose 3.6 percent to 8.788 trillion yen for a trade deficit of 454.4 billion yen. The capital account saw a deficit of 67.4 billion yen in March, while the financial account had a surplus of 2.191 trillion yen.

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

On Wall Street, stock fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Wednesday after failing to sustain an initial move to the upside. While the tech-heavy Nasdaq maintained a positive bias throughout the session, the S&P 500 spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The Nasdaq eventually showed a strong upward move on the day, jumping 126.89 points or 1.0 percent to 12,306.44. The S&P 500 also climbed 18.47 points or 0.5 percent to 4,137.64, while the narrower Dow bucked the uptrend and edged down 30.48 points or 0.1 percent to 33,531.33.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.5 percent, the German DAX Index declined by 0.4 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices showed a notable move to the downside on Wednesday, giving back ground after closing high for three straight sessions. West Texas Intermediate for June delivery slumped $1.15 or 1.6 percent to $72.56 a barrel after peaking at $73.71 in the previous session.