TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese market is trading significantly lower on Friday, snapping a three-session winning streak, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling below the 58,300 level, with tumbling technology stocks and a mixed performance in most other sectors.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 470.96 points or 0.80 percent to 58,282.43, after hitting a low of 58,130.57 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Thursday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 3 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing almost 1 percent, while Honda is gaining almost 1 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is tumbling almost 5 percent, Screen Holdings is declining almost 6 percent and Tokyo Electron is losing almost 4 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging up 0.4 percent.
Among the major exporters, Sony is surging almost 7 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.4 percent, while Canon is edging down 0.3 percent. Panasonic is flat.
Among other major losers, Furukawa Electric is tumbling more than 6 percent, while Fujikura and Disco are losing more than 5 percent each. Hoya is slipping almost 4 percent, while Lasertec and Sumitomo Electric Industries are declining almost 3 percent each.
Conversely, Dowa Holdings is soaring almost 8 percent and M3 is jumping more than 6 percent, while BayCurrent and Mitsubishi Materials are surging almost 6 percent each. Sumitomo Metal Mining is advancing more than 5 percent, while Konami Group and Sumco are gaining almost 5 percent each. JGC Holdings is up more than 4 percent, while Nomura Research Institute, Taisei and Nintendo are adding almost 4 percent each. NEC is rising more than 3 percent, while Shiseido and AGC are gaining almost 3 percent each.
In economic news, the value of retail sales spiked 1.8 percent on year in January, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said on Friday - coming in at 12.954 trillion yen. That beat expectations for an increase of 0.1 percent following the 0.9 percent decline in December. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail sales jumped 4.1 percent.
The METI also said industrial production in Japan was up a seasonally adjusted 2.2 percent on month in January. That was well shy of forecasts for an increase of 5.5 percent following the 0.1 percent contraction in December. On a yearly basis, production was up 2.2 percent. Upon the release of the data, the METI maintained its assessment of industrial production, saying that it continues to fluctuate indecisively.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 155 yen-range on Friday.
On Wall Street, stocks gave back some ground during trading on Thursday after moving sharply higher over the two previous sessions. The tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a significant move to the downside, although the Dow managed to end the day slightly higher.
The Nasdaq climbed well off its early lows but still slumped 273.69 points or 1.2 percent to 22,878.38. The S&P 500 also fell 37.27 points or 0.5 percent to 6,908.86, but the narrower Dow inched up 17.05 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 49,499.20.
Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.7 percent, the German DAX Index climbed by 0.5 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index increased by 0.4 percent.
Crude oil prices saw early strength Thursday on Mideast tensions but couldn't hold the gains after progress was reported in talks between the U.S. and Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery was down by $0.11 or 0.2 percent at $65.31 barrel.
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