The Japanese stock market experienced a notable decline on Thursday, continuing its downward trend from previous sessions. This movement follows mixed signals from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 Index is dipping significantly, falling below the 39,700 mark, with widespread sector weaknesses. This decline is particularly evident among major index contributors, exporters, and tech stocks.
As of the latest figures, the Nikkei 225 Index has dropped 311.65 points, a decrease of 0.78%, settling at 39,669.41 after reaching an intra-day low of 39,607.06. The market had ended slightly lower on Wednesday.
Among key players, SoftBank Group is seeing a reduction of nearly 1%, while Fast Retailing, known for operating Uniqlo, is slightly down by 0.3%. In the automotive sector, Toyota is down nearly 2%, and Honda is losing 1.5%.
In technology, Advantest has decreased by over 1%, whereas both Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron have declined by almost 2%.
The banking sector also shows slight downturns, with Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial dipping between 0.1% to 0.4%, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial dropping by nearly 1%.
Major exporters are equally experiencing losses: Panasonic is down over 2%, Mitsubishi Electric by more than 1%, and Sony is modestly down by 0.4%, with Canon remaining stable.
Other significant declines include Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha and Mitsubishi Motors, both losing about 5%. Nippon Yusen K.K., Nissan Motor, Mazda Motor, Lasertec, and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines are each down over 4%. Omron, Hino Motors, and ZOZO have decreased over 3%, and Mitsui & Co. and Subaru are down nearly 3%.
In contrast, Ebara has shown a gain of nearly 3%.
In the foreign exchange market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 158 yen range on Thursday.
Wall Street exhibited a lack of clear direction on Wednesday, following a substantial downward move on Tuesday. The major indices fluctuated around the zero point before closing with slight changes. The Nasdaq dipped slightly by 10.80 points, a decrease of 0.1%, ending at 19,478.87. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 106.84 points, an increase of 0.3%, at 42,635.20, and the S&P 500 incremented by 9.22 points or 0.2%, finishing at 5,918.25.
European markets also closed with mixed results. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 saw a slight rise of 0.1%, while Germany’s DAX Index fell by 0.1% and France’s CAC 40 Index declined by 0.5%.
Oil prices retreated on Wednesday due to a sharp rise in gasoline inventories and a stronger dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for February closed lower by $0.93, a drop of 1.25%, settling at $73.32 per barrel.
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