Lower Open Expected For Japan Stock Market





Futures point to a moderately lower open Friday for the Japan stock market. Traders get a mixed lead from Wall Street, where markets finished slightly higher despite having spent nearly the entire day in the red.

A round of profit taking sent the Japanese stock market lower on Thursday.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Average closed down 140.96 points or 1.27 percent at 10.949.09.

Among the Nikkei component stocks, there were 38 closing higher, 178 were lower and 9 were unchanged.

The broader TOPIX index declined 8.90 points on the session or 0.90 percent to finish at 978.17.

First Section trading volume was 2.18 billion shares.

Trading came as the government reported exports for March increased 43.5 percent from a year earlier.

The auto makers were in focus, as Moody's Investors Service issued a downgrade for Toyota Motor due to uncertainty involving "product quality" and profitability. Shares of Toyota closed down 50 yen or 1.37 percent. Elsewhere in the sector, Mazda was down 1 yen or 0.37 percent, Mitsubishi Motor was unchanged, Honda was down 60 yen or 1.85 percent and Subaru maker Fuji Heavy was up 5 yen or 1.02
A strengthening yen hurt the exporters, with Sony closing down 70 yen or 2.11 percent, Canon down 30 yen or 0.70 percent, Sharp was down 19 yen or 1.55 percent and Panasonic down 17 yen or 1040 percent. Rival electronics maker Pioneer Corp managed a gain of 8 yen or 2.27 percent, while Hitachi was up 9 yen or 2.28 percent.

The shippers were mixed, with Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha up 8 yen or 2.04 percent, Nippon Yusen up 1 yen or 0.26 percent and Mitsui OSK Lines was down 5 yen or 0.70 percent.

In overseas trading on Thursday, U.S. markets moved higher near the end of the session, having spent nearly all day in the red. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 9.37 points or 0.08 percent at 11,134.29, the Nasdaq Composite index was up 14.46 points or 0.58 percent at 2,519.07 and the Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 2.74 points or 0.23 percent at 1,208.67.

In other Asia/Pacific region trading on Thursday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 55.09 points or 0.26 percent at 21,454.94.

The Shanghai Composite index in China was down 33.79 points or 1.11 percent at 2,999.48.

In South Korea, the KOSPI/Seoul Composite index was down 8.06 points or 0.46 percent at 1,739.52.

The Taiwan Weighted Index was down 11.84 points or 0.15 percent at 7,978.69.