The Japanese stock market opened lower on Thursday with investors indulging in some selling following weaker than expected data on core machinery orders and due to a lack of positive triggers from global markets. Profit taking after recent gains is also contributing to the weakness in the market.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which opened lower by around 20 points at 8,996, is currently trading at 8,945, down 70.6 points or 0.8 percent from its previous close.
Tokyo Tatemono, Furukawa Electric, Japan Steel Work, Sumco Corp and Credit Saison are down 3 to 4 percent.
Fujikura, Kobe Steel, Obayashi Corp, Yokogawa Electric, Mitsubishi Motor, Fast Retailing, Advantest, Mitsui OSK Lines, Mitsui Mining, Komatsu, Pacific Metals and Tokyo Electric Power are trading lower by 1.5 to 2.5 percent.
Nippon Yusen, All Nippon Airways, Sumitomo Electric, Fanuc, Taiyo Yuden, Showa Shell and IHI Corp are among the other notable losers in the Nikkei index.
Mitsubishi Paper shares are up more than 17 percent. Nippon Paper Group is gaining over 6.5 percent.
Nippon Sheet Glass, Oji Paper, Olympus Corp, Mazda Motor, Toho Zinc, Mitsubishi Materials, Isuzu Motors, Pioneer Corp, Oki Electric, Yahoo Japan, Daiichi Sankyo and Sumitomo Heavy Industries are trading higher by 1 to 3 percent.
On the economic front, Japan's core machinery orders declined 7.1 percent on the month in December, worse than a forecast for a 4.7 percent drop.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded just above 77 yen in early deals in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 77.15 to the U.S. dollar.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea are trading notably lower. Taiwan and Shanghai are down marginally, while New Zealand is trading in positive territory. Markets across the region ended mostly higher on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the session on Wednesday, as traders waited for additional news out of Greece. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line and eventually closed modestly higher. The Dow inched up 5.8 points or less than 0.1 percent to 12,884, the Nasdaq rose 11.8 points or 0.4 percent to 2,915.9 and the S&P 500 climbed 2.9 points or 0.2 percent to 1,350.
Major European markets moved modestly lower on Wednesday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index slipped by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 index and the German DAX index both edged down by 0.1 percent.
U.S. crude oil futures closed higher on Wednesday, after an EIA report showed U.S. crude stockpiles increased lesser than expected for the week ended February 3. Light sweet crude for March delivery gained $0.30 or 0.3 percent to settle at $98.71 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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