TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is losing on Friday following the mixed cues overnight from Wall Street and on a stronger yen. Investors are cautious as they digested a raft of mixed local economic data ahead of the ten-day holiday in Japan beginning this weekend.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 153.93 points or 0.69 percent to 22,153.65, after touching a low of 22,073.10 earlier. Japanese shares reversed early losses to close higher on Thursday.
The major exporters are lower on a stronger yen. Sony is declining almost 2 percent, while Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric are losing more than 1 percent each. Canon is down 0.6 percent.
Among tech stocks, Advantest is losing more than 8 percent and Tokyo Electron is declining almost 3 percent.
In the auto space, Toyota is down almost 1 percent and Honda is edging down 0.1 percent.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is lower by 1 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is declining almost 1 percent.
In the oil sector, Japan Petroleum is lower by more than 2 percent and Inpex is down 0.4 percent after crude oil prices declined overnight.
Among the other major gainers, Yahoo Japan is gaining almost 5 percent, while Kyocera, Hino Motors and Fuji Electric are rising more than 4 percent each.
On the flip side, Showa Denko is losing more than 4 percent, while Kikkoman Corp., Screen Holdings and Chiyoda are declining more than 3 percent each.
On the economic front, retail sales in Japan were up a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent on month in March, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. That beat expectations for a flat reading and was down from the 0.4 percent increase in February.
The METI said in a preliminary reading that industrial output in Japan was down a seasonally adjusted 0.9 percent on month in March. That missed expectations for a flat reading following the 0.7 percent increase in February.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said that the jobless rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 2.5 percent in March. That exceeded expectations for 2.4 percent and was up from 2.3 percent in February.
Overall consumer prices in the Tokyo area were up 1.4 percent on year in April. That exceeded expectations for a rise of 1.1 percent and was up sharply from 0.9 percent in March.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 111 yen-range on Friday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed mixed in a volatile session on Thursday. A steep drop by shares of 3M weighed on the Dow, after the company reported weaker than expected first-quarter results and lowered its full-year guidance. On the other hand, jumps by shares of Facebook and Microsoft contributed to the modest advance by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
While the Dow climbed well off its worst levels of the day, the blue chip index still ended the day down 134.97 points or 0.5 percent to 26,462.08. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq rose 16.67 points or 0.2 percent to 8,118.68 and the S&P 500 inched up 1.08 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 2,926.17.
The major European markets all moved to the downside on Thursday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both dropped by 0.3 percent.
Crude oil futures ended lower Thursday, extending losses from the previous session. WTI crude for June declined $0.68 or 1 percent at $65.21 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX