Japanese Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is trading sharply lower on Friday, extending the losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling nearly 2 percent to well below the 52,600 level, with weakness in exporters, technology and financial stocks. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 1,030.32 points or 1.92 percent to 52,573.33, after hitting a low of 52,516.92 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Thursday.

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

In the tech space, Advantest is declining more than 5 percent, while Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron are losing more than 4 percent each.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are declining almost 1 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is losing more than 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Sony is losing almost 1 percent, Canon is edging down 0.1 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is declining almost 4 percent and Panasonic is slipping more than 1 percent.

Among other major losers, Daikin Industries, Sumitomo Electric Industries and Furukawa Electric are tumbling more than 7 percent each, while Ibiden is sliding more than 6 percent. Resonac Holdings and Fujikura are declining more than 5 percent each, while Japan Steel Works, Ebara and SMC are slipping almost 5 percent each. Mitsui Kinzoku, Yaskawa Electric and Nippon Electric Glass are losing more than 4 percent each.

Conversely, Shiseido is advancing more than 4 percent and Mercari is adding more than 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 159 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw even further downside over the course of the trading day on Thursday after coming under pressure early in the session, ending the day sharply lower. With the steep losses, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 dropped to their lowest closing levels since early last September.

The major averages ended the day just off their lows of the session. The Nasdaq plunged 521.74 points or 2.4 percent to 21,408.08, the S&P 500 tumbled 114.74 points or 1.7 percent to 6,477.16 and the Dow slumped 469.38 points or 1 percent to 45,960.11.

The major European markets also showed significant moves downside on the day. While the German DAX Index dove by 1.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index tumbled by 1.3 percent and the French CAC 40 Index slid by 1 percent.

Crude oil prices skyrocketed Thursday as the U.S.-Iran standoff over the 15-point peace proposal deepens the Middle East conflict. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was up $4.51 or 4.99 percent at $94.83 per barrel.