Japanese Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is significantly lower on Friday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 falling below the 33,300 levels, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders cautiously await the Bank of Japan's monetary policy decision later in the day as they also book profits after the recent market rally. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 252.38 points or 0.75 percent to 33,233.11, after hitting a low of 33,186.93 earlier. Japanese stocks closed slightly lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.3 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.4 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing more than 2 percent and Toyota is down almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are losing more than 1 percent each, while Screen Holdings is declining more than 2 percent.

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

Among major exporters, Canon is gaining more than 3 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is losing more than 1 percent, Sony is declining more than 2 percent and Panasonic is slipping almost 2 percent.

There are no other major losers.

Conversely, Olympus and Shiseido are gaining more than 3 percent each, while Resonac Holdings is adding almost 3 percent.

In economic news, the Bank of Japan will wrap up its monetary policy meeting on Friday and then announce its decision on interest rates. The BoJ is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at -0.10 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 139 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading day on Thursday following the mixed performance seen in the previous session. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 once again reached their best closing levels in over a year, while the Dow set to a six-month closing high.

The major averages pulled back off their highs of the session going into the close but held on to strong gains. The Dow shot up 428.73 points or 1.3 percent to 34,408.06, the Nasdaq jumped 156.34 points or 1.2 percent to 13,782.82 and the S&P 500 surged 53.25 points or 1.2 percent to 4,425.84.

Meanwhile, the major European markets also finished the day mixed. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 percent, the German DAX Index dipped by 0.1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Thursday, buoyed by reports suggesting a jump in demand from Chinese refineries and additional stimulus from the Chinese central bank. The dollar's weakness also contributed to the jumped in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended higher by $2.35 or 3.4 percent at $70.62 a barrel.