Japanese Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is slightly lower in choppy trading on Friday, extending the losses in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 falling below the 31,600 level, following the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, with losses in exporters and financial stocks, partially offset by gains in technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 47.36 points or 0.15 percent to 31,578.64, after hitting a low of 31,272.25 earlier. Japanese stocks closed notably lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is flat and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.2 percent, while Toyota is edging down 0.5 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining more than 1 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding almost 1 percent and Screen Holdings is edging up 0.3 percent.

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

Among major exporters, Sony and Mitsubishi Electric are losing more than 1 percent each, while Panasonic is down 1.5 percent and Canon is declining almost 1 percent. Among other major losers, Fujikura is losing almost 5 percent, while Isetan Mitsukoshi and J. Front Retailing are down more than 3 percent each. Nippon Express, Nippon Sheet Glass, Takashimaya and Oriental Land are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Kuraray is gaining almost 3 percent.

In economic news, overall consumer prices in Japan were up 3.3 percent on year in July, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday. That was unchanged from the June reading was well above forecasts for a gain of 2.5 percent. Core CPI, which excludes the volatile costs of food, was up 3.1 percent on year - in line with expectations and easing from 3.3 percent in the previous month.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 145 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks fell on Thursday, extending recent losses, amid concerns the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates higher for longer to control inflation. Stocks opened slightly higher, but retreated soon and then spent the rest of the day's session in the red.

The major averages all ended in the red, with the Nasdaq suffering a more pronounced loss, as yields on long term Treasury Notes climbed to a 16-year high. The Dow ended down 290.91 points or 0.84 percent at 34,474.83, the S&P 500 shed 33.97 points or 0.77 percent to settle at 4,370.36 and the Nasdaq dropped 157.70 points or 1.17 percent to 13,316.93.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended 0.63 percent down, Germany's DAX declined 0.71 percent and France's CAC 40 dropped 0.94 percent.

Crude oil futures were up on Thursday, snapping a three-session losing streak on news of stimulus measures from China's central bank. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September climbed $1.01 or 1.3 percent at $80.39 a barrel.