TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - Extending the losses in the previous session, the Japanese stock market is slightly lower on Thursday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is staying below the 38,300 level, with losses in index heavyweights and financial stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 12.34 points or 0.03 percent to 38,261.71, after hitting a low of 37,958.19 earlier. Japanese shares ended notably lower on Wednesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is flat. Among automakers, Toyota is edging down 0.1 percent and Honda is also edging down 0.3 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is losing almost 1 percent, while Tokyo Electron and Screen Holdings are edging up 0.4 to 0.2 percent each.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is losing almost 2 percent, while Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are declining almost 1 percent each.
Among the major exporters, Canon is losing more than 1 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric and Sony are declining almost 1 percent each. Panasonic is edging up 0.3 percent.
Among other major gainers, Kansai Electric Power is gaining almost 5 percent and Sumitomo is adding almost 4 percent, while Mitsubishi and Daiichi Sankyo are up almost 3 percent each.
Conversely, Sumitomo Pharma is plunging more than 7 percent, while Mazda Motor and TDK are losing more than 3 percent each. Resona Holdings and Shiseido are declining almost 3 percent each.
In economic news, members of the Bank of Japan's Monetary Policy Board said that the bank's inflation target of 2 percent was in sight, minutes from the central bank's March 18-19 meeting revealed on Thursday. At the meeting, the BoJ raised its interest rates for the first time in nearly two decades and became the world's last central bank to end negative rates amid signs that inflation is strengthening. The bank raised the overnight interest rate to around 0 to 0.1 percent from minus 0.1 percent.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan said the monetary base in Japan was up 2.1 percent on year in April, coming in at 689.896 trillion yen. That's up from 1.6 percent in March. The adjusted monetary base spiked 11.4 percent on year.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 156 yen-range on Thursday.
On Wall Street, stocks saw substantial volatility following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement Wednesday afternoon after turning in a lackluster performance for much of the session. The major averages initially surged in reaction to the Fed announcement but pulled back going into the close.
The major averages eventually finished the day mixed. While the Dow rose 87.37 points or 0.2 percent to 37,903.29, the Nasdaq fell 52.34 points or 0.3 percent to 15,605.48 and the S&P 500 dipped 17.30 points or 0.3 percent to 5,018.39.
While most of the major European markets were also closed on the day, U.K. stocks moved modestly lower. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index ended the day down by 0.3 percent.
Crude oil prices fell to a seven-week low on Wednesday after data showed an unexpected sharp jump in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended lower by $2.93 at $79.00 a barrel, the lowest settlement since March 12.
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