TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market slipped into negative territory on Thursday after opening higher following the positive lead overnight from Wall Street and on a weaker yen.
Investors turned cautious after the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. federal prosecutors are investigating Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies for allegedly stealing trade secrets from U.S. companies.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 48.53 points or 0.24 percent to 20,394.22, after rising to a high of 20,571.75 earlier. Japanese shares closed lower on Wednesday.
The major exporters are higher on a weaker yen. Sony is rising 0.5 percent, Canon is higher by 0.3 percent, Panasonic is adding 0.2 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.1 percent.
In the tech sector, Advantest is lower by more than 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is edging down 0.1 percent.
Among the major automakers, Honda is down 0.5 percent and Toyota is losing almost 1 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are advancing more than 1 percent each.
In the oil space, Inpex is up 0.2 percent, while Japan Petroleum is edging lower 0.1 percent after a modest increase in crude oil prices.
Among the other major gainers, Nomura Holdings is rising more than 4 percent, while Oji Holdings, Sompo Holdings and Nippon Paper are all higher by more than 3 percent each.
On the flip side, Screen Holdings is losing more than 4 percent, while FamilyMart UNY and Chiyoda Corp. are declining more than 2 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 108 yen-range on Thursday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed higher on Wednesday, partly reflecting a positive reaction to upbeat earnings news from financial giants Bank of America and Goldman Sachs. Buying interest was somewhat subdued, however, as traders continued to express uncertainty about the ongoing government shutdown. Stocks remained mostly positive after British Prime Minister Theresa May's government survived a vote of no confidence in parliament.
The Dow climbed 141.57 points or 0.6 percent to 24,207.16, the Nasdaq rose 10.86 points or 0.2 percent to 7,034.69 and the S&P 500 edged up 5.80 points or 0.2 percent to 2,616.10.
The major European markets also ended mixed on Wednesday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dropped by 0.5 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.4 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.
Crude oil prices were subdued on Wednesday after sharp gains in the previous session. WTI crude for February ended up $0.20 or 0.4 percent at $52.31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX