Japanese Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - Extending the losses in the previous two sessions, the Japanese stock market is significantly lower on Thursday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is losing more than 300 points and is falling below the 35,000 mark, with weakness across most sectors led by index heavyweights and exporters.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 301.58 points or 0.83 percent to 35,924.90, after hitting a low of 35,912.54 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly lower on Wednesday.

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

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

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are losing almost 1 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging down 0.4 percent.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric and Sony are losing almost 1 percent each, while Panasonic is declining almost 2 percent. Canon is flat.

Among other major losers, Nidec and M3 are gaining more than 4 percent each, while NEXON and Recruit Holdings are adding almost 4 percent each. Chugai Pharmaceutical is up almost 3 percent.

Conversely, DIC is gaining more than 4 percent, while Daiwa Securities, Nomura Holdings, Nippon Paper Industries and Lasertec are gaining more than 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 147 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a strong move to the upside in early trading on Wednesday but gave back ground over the course of the session. The major averages pulled back well off their highs of the session in afternoon trading, with the Dow sliding into negative territory.

The major averages eventually ended the session mixed. While the Nasdaq rose 55.98 points or 0.4 percent to 15,481.92 and the S&P 500 inched up 3.95 points or 0.1 percent to 4,868.55, the Dow fell 99.06 points or 0.3 percent to 37,806.39.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index jumped by 1.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.9 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday on data showing a larger-than-expected decline in U.S. crude inventories, while a weak dollar also contributed to the increase in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March added $0.72 or nearly 1 percent at $75.09 a barrel.