Japanese Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - Extending the slight losses in the previous two sessions, the Japanese stock market is significantly lower on Thursday after opening in the green, despite the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling to near the 39,700 level after scaling fresh all-time highs, with losses in technology stocks partially offset by gains in exporters and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 377.25 points or 0.94 percent to 39,713.53, after touching an all-time high of 40,472.11 earlier. Japanese shares ended slightly lower on Wednesday.

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

In the tech space, Advantest is losing almost 4 percent, Tokyo Electron is declining almost 3 percent and Screen Holdings is slipping more than 4 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging up 0.5 percent.

Among the major exporters, Canon is gaining more than 2 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is adding almost 1 percent and Sony is edging up 0.1 percent, while Panasonic is losing almost 1 percent.

Among other major losers, Mazda Motor is declining more than 4 percent and Nissan Motor is losing almost 4 percent, while Mitsubishi Motors, Resonac Holdings and Subaru are down almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Kawasaki Heavy Industries is gaining more than 4 percent, while Sompo Holdings, DeNA, Resona Holdings, CyberAgent and Rakuten Group are adding more than 3 percent each. Yaskawa Electric, MS&AD Insurance, Japan Post and Orix are advancing almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 148 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Wednesday following a notable pullback to start the week. The major averages all moved to the upside on the day but remain well off their recent record highs.

The major averages finished the day off their highs of the session but still in positive territory. The Nasdaq climbed 91.95 points or 0.6 percent to 16,031.54, the S&P 500 rose 26.1 points or 0.5 percent to 5,104.76 and the Dow edged up 75.86 points or 0.2 percent to 38,661.05.

The major European markets all also moved modestly higher on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices settled higher on Wednesday after data showed large declines in gasoline and distillate stockpiles last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $0.98 or 1.25 percent at $79.13 a barrel.