TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is losing on Thursday tracking the negative cues from Wall Street following the release of minutes of the Federal Reserve's July monetary policy meeting. The Federal Reserve warned that the economic recovery of the U.S. from the coronavirus-induced downturn was uncertain.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is declining 144.19 points or 0.62 percent to 22,966.42, after falling to a low of 22,955.26 earlier. Japanese shares closed higher on Wednesday after two days of losses.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is lower by more than 2 percent and Fast Retailing is declining almost 1 percent.
The major exporters are mixed despite a weaker yen. Panasonic is rising almost 3 percent and Canon is edging up 0.1 percent, while Sony is declining more than 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is down 0.5 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is lower by more than 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is down more than 1 percent. In the financial sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding 0.3 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is declining 0.3 percent.
Among automakers, Honda Motor is down more than 1 percent and Toyota is lower by almost 1 percent.
In the oil sector, Inpex is declining almost 1 percent and Japan Petroleum is down 0.6 percent after crude oil prices ended little changed overnight.
Takeda Pharmaceutical is considering selling its over-the-counter medicine unit to U.S. investment fund Blackstone Group for about 300 billion yen, Kyodo News reported. Shares of Takeda Pharma are declining almost 1 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Mitsubishi Motors is rising almost 3 percent and Daiwa House Industry is higher by more than 2 percent.
Conversely, Screen Holdings is losing more than 4 percent, while Z Holdings, Fujitsu, Dena Co. and Tokyu Fudosan are all lower by more than 3 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 106 yen-range on Thursday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed lower on Wednesday following the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's July monetary policy meeting. The minutes noted that the coronavirus outbreak is causing tremendous human and economic hardship across the United States and around the world. The Fed added that economic activity and employment have picked up somewhat in recent months but remain well below their levels at the beginning of the year.
The Dow dipped 85.19 points or 0.3 percent to 27,692.88, the Nasdaq slid 64.38 points or 0.6 percent to 11,146.46 and the S&P 500 fell 14.93 points or 0.4 percent to 3,374.85.
The major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.8 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.7 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.
Crude oil prices were little changed on Wednesday amid concerns about U.S. fuel demand and on caution ahead of a key producer countries' ministerial meeting later in the day. WTI crude edged higher by $0.04 to settle at $42.93 a barrel.
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