TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - Reversing the gains in the previous session, the Japanese market is sharply lower on Friday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling well below the 49,950 level, with weakness across most sectors led by index heavyweights and technology stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 955.67 points or 1.88 percent to 49,928.01, after hitting a low of 49,890.02 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Thursday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is tumbling almost 8 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.5 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing more than 1 percent, while Honda is gaining almost 1 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is tumbling almost 7 percent, Screen Holdings is losing almost 4 percent and Tokyo Electron is declining almost 2 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are declining more than 1 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is declining almost 1 percent.
Among the major exporters, Sony is declining more than 2 percent, Panasonic is edging down 0.2 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is losing almost 3 percent, while Canon is gaining more than 1 percent.
Among other major losers, Kanadevia is plummeting almost 19 percent, Taiyo Yuden is plunging more than 16 percent and Ajinomoto is tumbling almost 16 percent and Ibiden is sliding almost 7 percent, while Furukawa Electric and Mitsui Kinzoku are declining more than 4 percent each. IHI and Disco are losing almost 4 percent each, while Fujikura, Renesas Electronics, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Yaskawa Electric and Yokogawa Electric are down more than 3 percent each.
Conversely, Recruit Holdings is soaring almost 15 percent, Nissan Motor is surging more than 5 percent and Chugai Pharmaceutical is gaining almost 5 percent, while Nomura Research Institute and Hino Motors are advancing more than 4 percent each. Ryohin Keikaku and Suzuki Motor are adding almost 4 percent each, while BANDAI NAMCO and Nippon Steel are up almost 3 percent each.
In economic news, the average of household spending in Japan was up 1.8 percent on year in September, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday - coming in at 303,214 yen. That missed expectations for an increase of 2.5 percent and was down from 1.3 percent in August.
On a monthly basis, household spending was down 0.7 percent after rising 0.6 percent in the previous month. The average of monthly income per household stood at 510,935 yen, roughly unchanged from the previous year.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 153 yen-range on Friday.
On Wall Street, stocks saw continued weakness throughout much of the trading day on Thursday after coming under pressure early in the session. The major averages more than offset the gains posted during Wednesday's session, falling to their lowest closing levels in two weeks.
The major averages moved to the downside going into close, ending the day just off their lows of the session. The Nasdaq tumbled 445.80 points or 1.9 percent to 23,053.99, the S&P 500 slumped 75.97 points or 1.1 percent to 6,720.32 and the Dow slid 398.70 points or 0.8 percent to 46,912.30.
The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 1.3 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.
Crude oil prices fell Thursday on oversupply concerns after the American Petroleum Institute revealed that U.S. crude oil inventories increased much more than expected last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $0.21 or 0.35 percent at $59.39 per barrel.
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