TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is modest lower on Thursday following the negative cues overnight from Wall Street and the fall in crude oil prices amid lingering trade concerns. Tech stocks are among the major decliners.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 62.73 points or 0.30 percent to 21,066.99, after touching a low of 21,026.10 in early trades. Japanese shares declined on Wednesday.
Shares of Japan Display are losing more than 10 percent after the Apple supplier announced new restructuring plans, including 1,200 job cuts and the closure of one factory in Japan. In addition, the company's President and CEO Yoshiyuki Tsukizaki will step down.
Among other tech stocks, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are losing more than 3 percent each.
The major exporters are also mostly lower despite a weaker yen. Mitsubishi Electric and Panasonic are lower by more than 1 percent each, while Canon is down 0.5 percent. Sony is adding almost 1 percent.
Market heavyweight SoftBank is up 0.2 percent and Fast Retailing is rising 0.4 percent. In the auto space, Toyota Motor and Honda Motor are declining more than 1 percent each.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is lower by almost 2 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is declining more than 1 percent. In the oil sector, Inpex and Japan Petroleum are lower by more than 2 percent each.
Among the other major gainers, NH Foods is rising almost 2 percent.
On the flip side, JGC Corp. is losing more than 4 percent, while Sumco Corp., JXTG Holdings and Denka Co. are all lower by more than 3 percent each.
In economic news, Japan will see April results for its tertiary industry index and second-quarter results for the indexes for large manufacturing and large all industry from BSI today.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid 108 yen-range on Thursday.
On Wall Street, stocks turned in a lackluster performance on Wednesday before ending modestly lower as traders weighed lingering trade concerns against optimism about an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve. Partly offsetting the negative sentiment about trade, another report showing tame inflation has further fueled expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in the near future.
The Dow edged down 43.68 points or 0.2 percent to 26,004.83. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 29.85 points or 0.4 percent to 7,792.72 and the S&P 500 dipped 5.88 points or 0.2 percent to 2,879.84.
The major European markets also gave back ground on Wednesday after trending higher in recent sessions. While the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.6 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index dipped by 0.4 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.
Crude oil futures plunged sharply on Wednesday after data from the Energy Information Administration or EIA showed a jump in U.S. crude stockpiles for a second straight week. WTI crude for July delivery plunged $2.13 or about 4 percent to $51.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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