TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese market is trading significantly lower on Friday, reversing some of the gains in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling below the 65,550 level, with weakness in exporters and technology stocks partially offset by gains in automakers and financial stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 677.68 points or 1.02 percent to 65,539.11, after hitting a low of 65,427.69 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Thursday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is declining almost 2 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining almost 4 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining almost 2 percent and Honda is advancing almost 1 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are edging down 0.3 to 0.5 percent each, while Screen Holdings is losing almost 1 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.
Among the major exporters, Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric are losing more than 1 percent each, while Sony is down almost 1 percent. Canon is gaining more than 1 percent.
Among other major losers, Sumco is tumbling almost 5 percent, while Sumitomo Pharma and Japan Steel Works are declining almost 4 percent each. Ryohin Keikaku, IHI and Trend Micro are losing more than 3 percent each, while Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Taiyo Yuden, Ebara, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, M3, Nissan Chemical and Lasertec are up almost 3 percent each.
Conversely, Sumitomo Chemical and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha are advancing almost 4 percent each, while Ricoh and Itochu are gaining almost 3 percent each.
In economic news, overall consumer prices in Japan were up 1.9 percent on year in July, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday. That exceeded expectations for an increase of 1.8 percent following the downwardly revised 1.6 percent gain in June (originally 1.7 percent.
On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, inflation rose 0.4 percent, matching forecasts and up from 0.3 percent in the previous month. Core CPI was up 1.8 percent on year, also in line with expectations and up from 1.6 percent a month earlier.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 159 yen-range on Friday.
On Wall Street, stocks saw further downside over the course of the trading day on Thursday after coming under pressure early in the session. The major averages all moved sharply lower as the day progressed, more than offsetting the modest gains posted during Wednesday's session.
The major averages ended the day not far off their lows of the session. The Dow tumbled 703.84 points or 1.3 percent to 52,759.21, the Nasdaq slumped 263.92 points or 1 percent to 26,067.17 and the S&P 500 slid 66.82 points or 0.9 percent to 7,641.16.
The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. The French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.6 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.4 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the downtrend and closed just above the unchanged line.
Crude oil prices surged on Thursday after Trump announced his stringent economic measures against Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was up $2.01 or 2.34 percent at $87.84 per barrel.
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