TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is edging lower on Friday despite the record closing highs overnight on Wall Street. Worries about the surging coronavirus cases in Japan weighed on the market.
Investors also turned cautious ahead of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy decision due later today. The BoJ is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at -0.1 percent.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 12.43 points or 0.05 percent to 26,794.24, after falling to a low of 26,754.29 earlier. The Japanese market closed modestly higher on Thursday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is advancing more than 1 percent and Fast Retailing is adding 0.3 percent. In the tech space, Tokyo Electron is lower by more than 2 percent, while Advantest is rising more than 2 percent.
The major exporters are mostly higher on a weaker yen. Sony is rising more than 3 percent, Canon is higher by more than 2 percent and Panasonic is adding almost 1 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is down 0.3 percent.
Among automakers, Honda is advancing almost 2 percent, while Toyota is down almost 1 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is higher by almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding 0.4 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Pacific Metals is gaining almost 6 percent, Mitsui E&S is rising more than 5 percent and Japan Steel Works is higher by more than 4 percent.
Conversely, Secom Co. and Daikin Industries are losing more than 2 percent each, while Kikkoman Corp. and Keisei Electric Railway are lower by almost 2 percent each.
In economic news, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said that overall consumer prices in Japan were down 0.9 percent on year in November. That was roughly in line with expectations following the 0.4 percent decline in October.
Core CPI, which excludes volatile food prices, also sank an annual 0.9 percent - again roughly matching forecasts following the 0.7 percent drop in the previous month.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 103 yen-range on Friday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed at record highs on Thursday, with lawmakers signaling progress toward an agreement on a new relief package. Following a meeting with other congressional leaders, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., said the talks have made 'major headway toward hammering out a targeted pandemic relief package that would be able to pass both chambers with bipartisan majorities.' The positive sentiment was partly offset by a report from the Labor Department showing an unexpected increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended December 12.
The Dow rose 148.83 points or 0.5 percent to 30,303.37, the Nasdaq advanced 106.56 points or 0.8 percent to 12,764.75 and the S&P 500 climbed 21.31 points or 0.6 percent to 3,722.48.
Meanwhile, the major European markets ended mixed on Thursday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index closed just above the unchanged line and the German DAX Index advanced by 0.8 percent.
Crude oil prices extended gains to a fourth session and hit a nearly 10-month closing high on Thursday. WTI crude for January ended higher by $0.54 or about 1.1 percent at $48.36 a barrel.
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