Japanese Market Significantly Lower

TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese market is trading significantly lower on Friday, extending the sharp losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling to near the 68,050 level, with weakness in index heavyweights and technology stocks part…

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 679.61 points or 0.99 percent to 68,053.54, after hitting a low of 67,609.49 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is declining more than 4 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining more than 1 percent and Honda is edging up 0.4 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing almost 2 percent, while Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron are declining almost 4 percent each.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging up 0.5 percent, while Mizuho Financial is edging down 0.2 percent. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is flat.

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

Among other major losers, Ibiden is tumbling more than 8 percent, while Taiyo Yuden and Sumco are sliding almost 8 percent each. Resonac Holdings and Renesas Electronics are slipping almost 7 percent each, while Murata Manufacturing and Lasertec are declining more than 5 percent each. Fujikura is down almost 5 percent, while Ebara, Disco, Sumitomo Electric Industries and Mitsui Kinzoku are losing more than 4 percent each. NGK is down almost 4 percent.

Conversely, Chugai Pharmaceutical and Sumitomo Chemical are jumping more than 6 percent each, while Aeon is surging almost 6 percent. Dentsu Group and Shionogi & Co. are advancing almost 5 percent each, while Takeda Pharmaceutical and Sumitomo Pharma are gaining more than 4 percent each. Ryohin Keikaku, SHIFT, CyberAgent, West Japan Railway, East Japan Railway, Mitsubishi Estate and BayCurrent are adding almost 4 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 161 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a mixed performance on Thursday after opening higher but retreating following the release of U.S. jobless data that showed employment in the U.S. increased by much less than expected in the month of June.

The Dow jumped 594.83 points or 1.14 percent to finish at 52,900.07, while the NASDAQ tumbled 207.36 points or 0.80 percent to end at 25,832.67 and the S&P 500 perked 0.01 point or 0.00 percent to close at 7,483.24.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. The UK's FTSE 100 jumped 1.67 percent, Germany's DAX closed higher by 2.16 percent, hitting a new record high, and France's CAC 40 climbed 1.65 percent.

Crude oil prices inched higher on Thursday after the U.S. and Iran expressed contradictory remarks over the management of the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was up $0.05 or 0.07 percent at $68.63 per barrel.