Reversing the gains in the previous three sessions, the Japanese stock market is sharply lower in on Friday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark Nikkei 225 is retracting from all-time highs to plunge 2 percent to below the 41,400 level, with weakness across most sectors led by index heavyweights, exporters and technology stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 829.66 points or 1.96 percent to 41,394.36, after hitting a low of 41,188.29 earlier. Japanese stocks closed significantly higher on Thursday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is declining almost 4 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing almost 1 percent and Toyota is edging down 0.3 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is losing almost 5 percent, Tokyo Electron is declining more than 6 percent and Screen Holdings is down 4.5 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are losing more than 2 percent each.
Among major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is losing almost 2 percent, Panasonic is down almost 1 percent, Sony is declining more than 2 percent and Canon is slipping almost 3 percent.
Among other major losers, Disco is plummeting almost 8 percent and Seven & I Holdings is plunging more than 7 percent, while Renesas Electronics and Dai-ichi Life Holdings are slipping almost 5 percent each. Tokio Marine and T&D Holdings are losing more than 4 percent each, while Isetan Mitsukoshi, MS&AD Insurance and Taiyo Yuden are declining almost 4 percent each. Takashimaya is down more than 3 percent.
Conversely, M3 and Nitori Holdings are gaining more than 4 percent each, while OKUMA is adding almost 3 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 159 yen-range on Friday.
On Wall Street, stocks showed a substantial downturn over the course of the trading session on Thursday, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 pulling back sharply after reaching new record intraday highs in early trading.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq posted a particularly steep loss on the day, plunging 364.04 points or 2.0 percent to 18,283.41, while the S&P 500 slumped 49.37 points or 0.9 percent to 5,584.54. The narrower Dow, on the other hand, spent most of the day lingering near the unchanged line before closing up 32.39 points or 0.1 percent at 39,753.85.
Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.\'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both climbed by 0.7 percent.
Crude oil prices settled higher on Thursday, lifted by hopes of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve after the encouraging inflation data. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down $0.52 at $82.62 a barrel.