Snapping the four-session winning streak, the Japanese stock market is notably lower on Thursday, despite the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling to a tad above the 33,500 level, with losses across most sectors led by technology stocks as some traders booked profits after the recent winning streak.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 171.19 points or 0.51 percent to 33,510.05, after hitting a low of 33,411.24 earlier. Japanese stocks closed significantly higher on Wednesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging down 0.5 percent and Honda is edging down 0.3 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is losing almost 2 percent, Tokyo Electron is down almost 1 percent and Screen Holdings is edging down 0.2 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.5 percent.
Among the major exporters, Canon is losing almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is down more than 1 percent, while Panasonic is gaining almost 1 percent. Sony is flat.
Among other major losers, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha and Trend Micro are losing almost 4 percent each, while Nippon Yusen K.K.is declining more than 3 percent and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines is down almost 3 percent.
Conversely, DIC is surging more than 6 percent.
In economic news, the value of retail sales in Japan was up 5.3 percent in November, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry or METI said on Thursday - coming in at 13.819 trillion yen. That was up from the 4.1 percent increase in October. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail sales rose 1.0 percent after slipping 1.7 percent in the previous month.
The METI also said industrial production in Japan was down a seasonally adjusted 0.9 percent on month in November. That beat expectations for a decline of 1.6 percent following the 1.3 percent increase in October. On a yearly basis, industrial production was down 1.4 percent after rising 1.1 percent in the previous month.
Upon the release of the data, the METI states its assessment of industrial production as that it fluctuates indecisively. According to the METI's forecast, industrial production is expected to jump 6.0 percent on month in December but then sink 7.2 percent in January.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid-141 yen-range on Thursday.
On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction throughout the trading session on Wednesday, with the major averages spending the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line. Despite the choppy trading, the Dow reached a new record closing high, and the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 ended the day at their best closing levels in almost two years.
The major averages eventually finished the day modestly higher. While the Dow rose 111.19 points or 0.3 percent to 37,656.52, the Nasdaq edged up 24.60 points or 0.2 percent to 15,099.18 and the S&P 500 inched up 6.83 points or 0.1 percent to 4,781.58.
The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index rose by 0.2 percent and the French CAC 40 Index closed just above the unchanged line.
Crude oil prices fell Wednesday on reports that shipping companies have resumed travel via the Suez Canal and Red Sea again after a geopolitical pause. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February sank $1.46 or 1.9 percent at $74.11 a barrel.
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