The Japanese stock exchange ended lower again on Thursday. It was the second loss in a row. The mood was depressed by negative economic reports from the United States, which already led to lower closing positions on Wall Street.

Investors were also looking forward to weekly US unemployment claims, which have skyrocketed in recent weeks due to the corona crisis.

The leading Nikkei in Tokyo eventually closed 1.3 percent in the minus at 19,290.20 points. Japanese banks continued to decline following disappointing quarterly results from US industry peers Citigroup and Bank of America.

Toyota fell 2 percent. The automaker is cutting production at eighteen factories in Japan due to the virus outbreak. The other Japanese automakers Nissan, Honda and Mazda lost up to 5.2 percent.

The stock market gauge in Shanghai was 0.1 percent higher in the meantime in anticipation of the Chinese economic growth for the first quarter, which will be released on Friday.

The Hong Kong, Hang Seng index, lost 0.7 percent. Cathay Pacific won 0.8 percent. The Hong Kong airline transported 90 percent fewer passengers in March due to the corona pandemic. The Kospi in Seoul gained 0.1 percent.

In Sydney, the All Ordinaries fell by more than 1 percent. Australian unemployment stood at 5.2 percent in March. That was better than expected.