The Japanese stock market experienced a slight decline in a volatile trading session on Friday, extending losses from the previous two days and following negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 benchmark index dropped below the 40,100 mark, reflecting a mixed performance across sectors as traders responded to the latest domestic inflation data.
Japan's headline inflation rate remained steady at 2.8% in June, while core inflation saw a slight increase to 2.6% from 2.5% the previous year.
The Nikkei 225 Index slipped by 36.71 points, or 0.09%, to 40,089.64, after reaching a low of 39,824.58 earlier in the session. Japanese stocks had closed significantly lower on Thursday.
Among market heavyweights, SoftBank Group declined over 1%, and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing edged down by 0.4%. In the automotive sector, Honda remained flat, while Toyota slipped by 0.1%.
In the technology sector, Advantest saw a gain of 2.5%, Tokyo Electron rose by over 2%, and Screen Holdings increased by 0.2%.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial edged down by 0.2%, Mizuho Financial dropped nearly 1%, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial edged up by 0.4%.
Regarding major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric, Canon, and Sony edged down between 0.4% and 0.5%, while Panasonic declined by almost 1%.
Other notable decliners included Disco, which fell by almost 5%, Astellas Pharma, down nearly 4%, and Sumitomo Metal Mining, which slid over 3%.
Conversely, Hoya gained over 3%, with Fujikura and Renesas Electronics both adding nearly 3%.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the mid-157 yen range on Friday.
On Wall Street, stocks initially lacked direction on Thursday before succumbing to significant selling pressure, continuing the steep declines from the prior session. Major averages finished the day solidly in the red— the Dow plummeted by 533.06 points, or 1.3%, to 40,665.02, the Nasdaq dropped 125.70 points, or 0.7%, to 17,871.22, and the S&P 500 decreased by 43.68 points, or 0.8%, to 5,544.59.
In Europe, major markets ended the day mixed. The German DAX Index fell by 0.5%, whereas the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index both rose by 0.2%.
Crude oil prices eased slightly on Thursday amid concerns over Chinese oil demand and the dollar's recovery. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August fell by $0.03 to $82.82 a barrel.
