TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is modestly lower on Thursday, extending the losses in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 staying below the 30,400 level, ignoring the broadly positive cues overnight from Wall Street, amid threat to the nation's security after two ballistic missiles fired by North Korea landed in Japanese territorial waters.
The nation is also continuing its efforts to contain the unprecedented spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus, with economic activity being stifled as Tokyo and 18 prefectures are still under COVID-19 state of emergency.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 146.23 points or 0.48 percent to 30,365.48, after hitting a low of 30,308.69 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Wednesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining almost 2 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is adding almost 1 percent and Honda is gaining more than 1 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are losing more than 2 percent each, while Screen Holdings is down almost 3 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging down 0.4 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.3 percent.
The major exporters are mixed. Sony and Mitsubishi Electric are edging up 0.4 percent each, while Panasonic is losing almost 1 percent. Canon is edging up 0.2 percent.
Among the other major losers, CyberAgent, Daiwa Securities, Hitachi Zosen and NEXON are losing more than 3 percent each, while Nikon, Yamaha Motor and Tokyu Fudosan are down more than 2 percent each.
Conversely, Toho Zinc is gaining almost 7 percent and Fujikura is up almost 6 percent, while Idemitsu Kosan and Unitika are adding more than 3 percent each. Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is rising almost 3 percent, while T&D Holdings, Pacific Metals and Shimizu are up more than 2 percent each.
In economic news, Japan posted a merchandise trade deficit of 635.4 billion yen in August, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday. That was well shy of expectations for a shortfall of 47.7 billion yen following the downwardly revised 439.4 billion yen surplus in July (originally 441 billion yen).
Exports were up 26.2 percent on year, missing expectations for an increase of 34.0 percent and down from the 37.0 percent gain in the previous month. Imports surged an annual 44.7 percent versus expectations for a gain of 40 percent and up from 28.5 percent a month earlier.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 109 yen-range on Thursday.
On Wall Street, stocks initially showed a lack of direction during trading on Wednesday but climbed firmly into positive territory as the day progressed. With the advance on the day, the major averages largely offset the downturn seen in the previous session.
The major averages finished the session near their best levels of the day. The Dow climbed 236.82 points or 0.7 percent to 34,814.39, the Nasdaq advanced 123.77 points or 0.8 percent to 15,161.53 and the S&P 500 jumped 37.56 points or 0.9 percent to 4,480.70.
Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slumped 1 percent, the German DAX Index slid 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipped 0.3 percent.
Crude oil prices rose sharply Wednesday, lifting the most active crude futures contracts to a nearly seven-week closing high after data showed a larger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended up by $2.15 or 3.1 percent at $72.61 a barrel, the highest settlement since July 30.
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