TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is sharply lower on Friday and the safe-haven yen strengthened following the weak cues overnight from Wall Street after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to impose a 10 percent tariff on the remaining $300 billion worth of Chinese imports.
Worries about Japan-South Korea tensions also weighed on sentiment as investors digested news that the Japanese government has approved removing South Korea from the so-called 'white list' of countries entitled to receive preferential treatment in trade.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 456.20 points or 2.12 percent to 21,084.79, after touching a low of 21,061.33 earlier. Japanese stocks ended slightly higher on Thursday.
The major exporters are sharply lower on a stronger yen. Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric are losing more than 3 percent, Sony is lower by almost 3 percent and Canon is declining more than 1 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is declining more than 1 percent and Tokyo Electron is lower by almost 1 percent.
Market heavyweight SoftBank is losing almost 3 percent and Fast Retailing is declining almost 2 percent. In the auto sector, Honda Motor is lower by almost 3 percent and Toyota Motor is down more than 2 percent ahead of earnings results by the two automakers later today.
Among oil stocks, Inpex and Japan Petroleum are falling almost 5 percent each after crude oil prices plunged overnight.
Among the other major gainers, Casio Computer is gaining 9 percent, while Chubu Electric Power and Toho Co. are advancing almost 2 percent each.
On the flip side, Furukawa Electric Co. is losing almost 12 percent, Fujikura is lower by more than 9 percent and Nippon Steel is falling almost 9 percent.
On the economic front, the Bank of Japan will release the minutes from its monetary policy meeting on June 19 and 20. At the meeting, the bank voted to maintain interest rate at -0.1 percent on current accounts that financial institutions maintain at the bank, and also will purchase government bonds so that the yield of 10-year JGBs will remain at around zero percent.
The Bank of Japan also said that the monetary base in Japan was up 3.7 percent on year in July, coming in at 516.014 trillion yen. That's down from the 4.0 percent gain in June.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 107 yen range on Friday.
On Wall Street, stocks pulled back sharply after President Donald Trump announced his plans to impose a 10 percent tariff on the remaining $300 billion worth of Chinese imports. Trump revealed the plan shortly after U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin wrapped up the latest round of trade talks in Shanghai.
The Dow jumped more than 300 points in morning trading, but ended the day down 280.85 points or 1.1 percent at 26,583.42. The tech-heavy Nasdaq slid 64.30 points or 0.8 percent to 8,111.12 and the S&P 500 slumped 26.82 points or 0.9 percent to 2,953.56.
The major European markets moved to the upside on Thursday. The French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.7 percent and the German DAX Index climbed by 0.5 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just below the unchanged line.
Crude oil prices plunged on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to impose a 10 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports. WTI crude for September delivery plummeted $4.63 or 7.9 percent to $53.95 a barrel amid concerns about the outlook for global energy demand.
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