The Japanese market is sharply lower on Friday, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 dipping more than 900 points to below 29,300, driven by a massive selloff in high-flying technology shares. Investors are worried that rising bond yields in recent weeks could hurt high-growth companies reliant on easy borrowing. Overnight cues from Wall Street were also negative.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed tha morning session at to 29,446.17, down 722.10 points or 2.39 percent, after touching a low of 29,219.15 in early trades. Japanese shares closed higher on Thursday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 3 percent, while Fast Retailing is declining more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing nearly 2 percent and Toyota is lower by almost 2 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 5 percent and Tokyo Electron is down almost 3 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging down 0.2 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is losing 0.4 percent.
The major exporters are lower on a stronger yen. Mitsubishi Electric is declining more than 2 percent and Panasonic is declining almost 4 percent, while Canon and Sony are down almost 3 percent each.
Among the other major gainers, Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding is gaining almost 8 percent and Nikon is adding more than 7 percent, while Fanuc and DOWA are up nearly 6 percent. Dentsu, SUMCO and NSK are gaining more than 5 percent each, while Marubeni, Rakuten and Yamaha are up almost 5 percent each.
Conversely, Aeon is losing almost 5 percent, Suzuki Motor is lower by more than 3 percent and Seven & i is declining almost 3 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 106 yen-range on Friday.
In economic news, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said industrial output in Japan was up a seasonally adjusted 4.2 percent on month in January. That beat expectations for an increase of 4.0 percent following the 1.0 percent decline in December. On a yearly basis, industrial production dropped 5.3 percent - roughly in line with forecasts after slipping 2.6 percent in the previous month.
The METI also said that the value of retail sales in Japan was down a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent on month in January, coming in at 12.097 trillion yen. That beat expectations for a fall of 0.6 percent following the 0.8 percent decline in December. On a yearly basis, retail sales dropped 2.4 percent - again exceeding expectations for a fall of 2.6 percent after the 0.2 percent dip in the previous month.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said that overall consumer prices in the Tokyo region of Japan - considered a leading indicator for the nationwide trend - were down 0.3 percent on year in February, following the 0.5 percent decline in January.
Core CPI, which excludes volatile food prices, also was down an annual 0.3 percent versus expectations for a fall of 0.4 percent - which would have been unchanged from the previous month. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, overall inflation was up 0.1 percent and core CPI was flat.
On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading session on Thursday, more than offsetting the rally seen on Wednesday. The major averages came under pressure in early trading and saw further downside as the day progressed, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq posting a particularly steep loss..
The Nasdaq plunged 478.54 points or 3.5 percent to 13,119.43, its lowest closing level in nearly a month. The Dow also tumbled 559.85 points or 1.8 percent to 31,402.01 and the S&P 500 plummeted 96.09 points or 2.5 percent to 3,829.34.
The major European also moved to the downside on Thursday. While the German DAX Index slid by 0.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.
Crude oil futures rose on Thursday for a fourth straight session amid hopes global energy demand will see a significant rise and hit pre-Covid-19 levels by the end of this year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April was up $0.31 or 0.5 percent at $63.53 a barrel after hitting a fresh 13-month high of $63.81 a barrel.
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