Japanese Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - Snapping a three-session losing streak, the Japanese market is slightly lower in choppy trading on Friday, following the slightly positive cues from European markets and lack of cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling below the 50,150 level, with weakness in exporters and technology stocks partially offset by gains in financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 40.07 points or 0.08 percent to 50,127.03, after hitting a low of 49,989.54 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging down 0.1 percent, while Honda is adding almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is edging up 0.2 percent, while Tokyo Electron is declining almost 2 percent and Screen Holdings is losing more than 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is gaining almost 1 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Sony, Mitsubishi Electric and Canon are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Panasonic is losing almost 1 percent.

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

Conversely, OKUMA is surging almost 5 percent and Japan Steel Works is gaining more than 3 percent, while Toppan Holdings and NTN are adding almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, retail sales in Japan increased 1.7 percent on year in October 2025, accelerating from a downwardly revised 0.2 percent rise in September 2025, surpassing market expectations for a 0.8 percent increase and marking the fastest pace since June.

Meanwhile, Japan's industrial production rose 1.4 percent on month in October 2025, beating market expectations of a 0.6 percent decline but easing from a 2.6 percent gain in the previous month. This marked the second consecutive monthly increase. On an annual basis, industrial production grew 1.5 percent, moderating from September's 3.8 percent growth.

Further, core consumer prices in Tokyo's Ku-area rose 2.8 percent on year in November 2025, unchanged from October and slightly above market expectations for a 2.7 percent increase. The reading stayed above the Bank of Japan's 2 percent target.

Japan's unemployment rate stood at 2.6 percent in October 2025, unchanged from the previous two months but slightly above market expectations of 2.5 percent. It remained the highest reading since July 2024. On a non-seasonally adjusted basis, the labor force participation rate stood at 64.2 percent, flat from September but up from 63.5 percent a year earlier.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 156 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, the markets were closed for Thanksgiving Day on Thursday after closing mostly higher on Wednesday.

The major European markets moved to the upside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.02 percent, France's CAC 40 crept up 0.04 percent, and Germany's DAX climbed 0.18 percent.