Japanese Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is trading modestly lower on Thursday, extending the losses in the previous session, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling well below the 36,700 level, with weakness in index heavyweights, exporters and financial stocks partially offset by gains in technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 157.86 points or 0.43 percent to 36,621.80, after hitting a low of 36,607.49 earlier. Japanese shares ended slightly lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing more than 1 percent and Honda is down almost 1 percent.

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

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is losing more than 1 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is down almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging down 0.3 percent.

Among the major exporters, Sony is losing more than 3 percent, while Panasonic and Canon are down almost 1 percent each. Mitsubishi Electric is gaining more than 1 percent.

Among other major losers, LY Corp. and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines are losing more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, UBE and Yokogawa Electric are surging almost 6 percent each, while Disco is gaining more than 5 percent, Mercari is adding more than 4 percent, Nomura Research Institute is advancing almost 4 percent and Lasertec is up more than 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 143 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw considerable volatility over the course of the trading day on Wednesday after moving mostly lower over the two previous sessions. The major averages swung back and forth across the unchanged, particularly in the latter part of the session.

The major averages eventually ended the day in positive territory. The Dow advanced 284.97 points or 0.7 percent to 41,113.79, the S&P 500 climbed 24.37 points or 0.4 percent to 5,631.28 and the Nasdaq rose 48.50 points or 0.3 percent to 17,738.16.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 0.9 percent, the German DAX Index slid by 0.6 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices moved sharply lower over the course of the trading day on Wednesday, giving back ground following the surge seen in the previous session. After spiking $1.96 or 3.4 percent to $59.09 a barrel during Tuesday's session, crude for June delivery tumbled $1.02 or 1.7 percent to $58.07 a barrel.