TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is notably lower on Thursday and the safe-haven yen strengthened following the lackluster cues overnight from Wall Street amid continued concerns about the coronarvirus outbreak and following the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to keep interest rates unchanged.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 211.73 points or 0.91 percent to 23,167.67, after falling to a low of 23,151.49 earlier.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group Corp. is declining almost 2 percent and Fast Retailing is down almost 1 percent.
Among tech stocks, Advantest is losing more than 5 percent and Tokyo Electron is lower by more than 1 percent.
The major exporters are lower on a stronger yen. Sony, Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric are declining more than 1 percent each.
Canon is lower by more than 4 percent after the digital camera maker reported a more than 50 percent fall in full-year profit and a 9 percent decrease in net sales.
Among auto stocks, Toyota Motor is losing 1 percent and Honda Motor is declining almost 1 percent.
In the oil sector, Japan Petroleum is lower by more than 1 percent and Inpex is down 0.3 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Cyberagent is gaining almost 15 percent, Omron Corp. is higher by more than 4 percent and Fanuc Corp. is advancing almost 3 percent.
On the flip side, Screen Holdings is falling more than 19 percent, while Hitachi Construction Machinery, IHI Corp, Hino Motors and Konica Minolta are all lower by more than 4 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 little changed on Wednesday, giving back ground going into the close following reports Google is temporarily closing its offices in China due to the spread of the coronavirus. In addition, the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged and its accompanying statement was also largely unchanged from last month.
While the S&P 500 edged down 2.84 points or 0.1 percent to 3,273.40, the Dow crept up 11.60 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 28,734.45 and the Nasdaq inched up 5.48 points or 0.1 percent to 9,275.16.
The major European markets moved to the upside on Wednesday. While the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.5 percent, the German DAX Index edged up by 0.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just above the unchanged line.
Crude oil prices drifted lower on Wednesday on data showing a rise in inventories, and amid concerns about outlook for near term energy demand due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the global economy. WTI crude for March ended down $0.15 or about 0.3 percent at $53.33 a barrel.
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