Japanese Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is trading significantly lower on Thursday, extending the sharp losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling well below the 63,550 level, with weakness across most sectors led by automaker, financial and exporter stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 661.12 points or 1.03 percent to 63,518.15, after hitting a low of 62,335.75 earlier. Japanese stocks ended sharply lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is declining more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing almost 3 percent and Honda is declining almost 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is declining almost 2 percent, Screen Holdings is edging down 0.3 percent and Tokyo Electron is losing almost 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is losing more than 1 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are declining almost 3 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is declining almost 4 percent and Sony is slipping more than 1 percent, while Panasonic and Canon are losing almost 2 percent each.

Among other major losers, IHI and Fujikura are tumbling almost 6 percent each, while Kawasaki Heavy Industries is slipping more than 5 percent. JTEKT, Disco, Astellas Pharma, NSK, Sumitomo Pharma, ARCHION and Lasertec are all declining more than 4 percent each, while Isuzu Motors, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Olympus and Tokyo Electric Power are losing almost 4 percent each.

Conversely, Toppan Holdings is jumping almost 9 percent, Ajinomoto is surging more than 6 percent and Kioxia Holdings is advancing more than 4 percent, while Ibiden, Inpex and Nikon are gaining almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 160 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction early in the session on Wednesday but came under considerable selling pressure over the course of the trading day. The major averages all showed significant moves to the downside.

The major averages ended the day just off their lows of the session. The Dow tumbled 953.33 points or 1.9 percent to 49,918.78, the Nasdaq plunged 509.32 points or 2 percent to 25,169.50 and the S&P 500 slumped 119.66 points or 1.6 percent to 7,266.99.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.5 percent and the German DAX Index slumped by 1 percent.

Crude oil prices surged Wednesday on concerns about the gulf conflict intensifying further after the U.S. and Iran resumed attacks, keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was up $2.26 or 2.56 percent at $90.46 per barrel.