Japanese Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is trading notably lower on Thursday, reversing some of the gains in the previous three sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling below the 37,600 level, with weakness in automakers, exporters and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 285.66 points or 0.73 percent to 38,599.49, after hitting a low of 38,567.16 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly higher on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.3 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing 1.5 percent and Honda is declining more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is declining almost 1 percent, Tokyo Electron is losing almost 2 percent and Screen Holdings is down 1.5 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging up 0.1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Sony is losing almost 3 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is declining 1.5 percent, Panasonic is slipping almost 2 percent and Canon is down almost 1 percent.

Among other major losers, there are no other major losers.

Conversely, Renesas Electronics is gaining almost 5 percent and Tokyo Electric Power is adding almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 144 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks gave back ground over the course of the trading day on Wednesday to end the day roughly flat after moving to the upside early in the session.

While the Nasdaq inched up 25.18 points or 0.1 percent to 19,546.27, the S&P 500 edged down 1.85 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 5,980.87 and the Dow slipped 44.14 points or 0.1 percent to 42,171.66.

The major European markets also ended the day mixed. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index fell 0.4 percent and the German DAX Index decreased by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices ticked higher on Wednesday as the Israel-Iran conflict, which began with Israeli airstrikes on June 12, entered the sixth straight day with casualties increasing on both sides. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery rose by $0.30 to settle at $75.15 per barrel.