The Japanese stock market got off to a weak start on Thursday with investors indulging in some heavy selling across the board following a weak lead from overseas markets amid mounting worries about the eurozone economy. A weak U.S. pending home sales data, weak Japanese industrial output data and a stronger yen contributed to the negative start.
With several blue chips still reeling under pressure, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index is trading lower by as much as 154 points or 1.8 percent, at 8,479.1.
Electric machinery, steel, non-ferrous metals and manufacturing stocks are mostly down with notable losses. Pharmaceuticals and chemicals stocks are trading mixed.
Mirroring widespread selling, only 10 stocks out of the 225 stocks-strong Nikkei index are currently trading in positive territory. Among the gainers, Kansai Electric Power is gaining nearly 2 percent amid hopes the nuclear plant will commence operations again. Chubu Electric Power is up nearly 3.5 percent.
Sojitz Corp, Tokyo Electric Power, All Nippon Airways, MEIJI Holdings Co and Olympus Corp are up with modest gains.
Among the prominent losers, Advantest Corp is down more than 5 percent. Dainippon Screen Manufacturing Co shares are down 4.8 percent, Canon Inc is losing about 4.5 percent and JFE Holdings is down with a loss of 4.3 percent.
Mitsumi Electric, Furukawa Electric, Fujikura, Nisshin Steel, Tokyo Electron, Aozora Bank, Pioneer Corp, Yokogawa Electric Corp, Mitsui Mining & Smelting, Sony Corp, Pacific Metals and Showa Denko KK are all trading lower by 3 to 4 percent.
Credit Saison, Nippon Steel, Nippon Light Metal, Mitsui & Co., Panasonic Corp, Fast Retailing, Sumitomo Metal Industries and Toho Zinc are also trading sharply lower.
Automobile stocks Mazda Motor, Honda Motor, Nissan Motor, Toyota Motor and Suzuki Motor are down 2 to 4 percent.
According to data released by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, industrial production in Japan climbed a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent on month in April, missing forecasts for an increase of 0.5 percent following the 1.3 percent increase in March.
On an annual basis, output climbed 13.4 percent - also missing expectations for an increase of 13.7 percent following the 14.2 percent increase in the previous month.
As a result of the data, the METI maintained its assessment of industrial production, saying, "Industrial production continued to show an upward movement."
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded near 79 yen in early deals in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 78.82 to the dollar.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan are trading notably lower. New Zealand is down marginally, while Malaysia is trading slightly above the unchanged line. Markets across the region ended mostly lower on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, stocks tumbled on Wednesday amid concerns about the impact of rising Italian and Spanish bond yields and on disappointing U.S. pending home sales data.
The Dow ended down 160.8 points or 1.3 percent at 12,419.9, the Nasdaq declined 33.6 points or 1.2 percent to 2,837.4 and the S&P 500 slid 19.1 points or 1.4 percent to 1,313.3.
Major European markets too ended notably lower on Wednesday. While the French CAC index tumbled 2.2 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index and the German DAX index lost 1.7 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively.
U.S. crude oil futures settled at a seven-month low on Wednesday, on increasing concerns the eurozone debt crisis could peg oil demand growth and fears that the contagion could spread from Greece to Spain and Italy. Oil prices were also impacted after media reports emerged that China may not match the stimulus efforts of 2008, with a much lower spending this time around.
Crude for July delivery dropped $2.94 or 3.2 percent to close at $87.82 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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Market Analysis
June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.