TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is extending losses to a fifth straight session on Friday despite the overnight rebound on Wall Street. Investors remained cautious due to the surging coronavirus cases in Europe as well as the U.S. and next week's U.S. presidential election. Investors also digested mixed Japanese economic data.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is declining 192.37 points or 0.82 percent to 23,139.57, after touching a low of 23,118.00 earlier.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is down 0.2 percent, while Fast Retailing is edging up 0.1 percent.
Apple suppliers in Japan are notably lower after the tech giant reported a decline in third-quarter revenue from iPhones and also did not provide any outlook for the holiday quarter.
Kyocera is tumbling more than 8 percent and Alps Alpine is losing almost 4 percent, while Minebea Mitsumi and Nitto Denko are lower by almost 2 percent each.
The major exporters are mixed despite a weaker yen. Panasonic is rising more than 4 percent and Canon is adding more than 1 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is lower by almost 4 percent and Sony is declining almost 1 percent.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging down 0.1 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is lower by almost 1 percent and Honda is declining 0.4 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is climbing more than 10 percent, while Tokyo Electron is lower by almost 2 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Seiko Epson is climbing more than 10 percent, and Konica Minolta is gaining more than 7 percent, while AGC and Fanuc are higher by more than 3 percent each.
Conversely, Omron Corp. is lower by almost 5 percent, while Takeda Pharmaceutical and Oki Electric are declining more than 4 percent each.
On the economic front, industrial output in Japan climbed a seasonally adjusted 4.0 percent on month in September. That exceeded expectations for a gain of 3.2 percent following the 1.0 percent increase in August.
Overall inflation in the Tokyo region of Japan was down 0.3 percent on year in October, in line with expectations following the 0.2 percent increase in September.
The unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 3.0 percent in September. That was shy of forecasts for 3.1 percent and was unchanged from the August reading.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 104 yen-range on Friday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed higher on Thursday, reflecting gains by tech stocks and the release of a report from the Commerce Department showing a stronger than expected rebound by the U.S. economy in the third quarter. Adding to the positive sentiment, the Labor Department released a report showing initial jobless claims fell to their lowest level since before the coronavirus-induced lockdowns in the week ended October 24.
The Dow climbed 139.16 points or 0.5 percent to 26,659.11, the Nasdaq jumped 180.72 points or 1.6 percent to 11,185.59, and the S&P 500 surged up 39.08 points or 1.2 percent at 3,310.11.
The major European markets showed a lack of direction over the course of the session on Thursday. While the German DAX Index eventually closed up by 0.3 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index ended the day nearly unchanged.
Crude oil prices fell sharply on Thursday amid concerns over the outlook for energy demand due to a continued surge in coronavirus cases and tighter lockdown measures in several countries. WTI crude for December ended down $1.22 or about 3.3 percent at $36.17 a barrel, the lowest settlement in nearly five months.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX