Japanese Market Notably Lower

The Japanese stock market is trading notably lower on Monday, reversing some of the sharp gains in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 56,550 level, with weakness in index heavyweights and technology stocks partially offset by gains in financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 397.09 points or 0.70 percent at 56,527.02, after hitting a low of 56,287.62 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.3 percent, while Toyota is edging up 0.5 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing almost 1 percent, Screen Holdings is declining more than 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is sliding more than 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding more than 1 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining almost 1 percent and Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.1 percent.

The major exporters are lower. Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 1 percent, while Sony is sliding more than 2 percent and Panasonic is losing more than 1 percent. Canon is flat.

Among the other major losers, Ibiden is sliding almost 4 percent, while Mitsubishi Motors, Yokohama Rubber, Mitsui Kinzoku and Toppan Holdings are losing more than 3 percent each. Osaka Gas, Resonac Holdings, Renesas Electronics, Denka, SHIFT and Sumitomo Pharma are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Yaskawa Electric is advancing almost 6 percent, while Inpex, Ryohin Keikaku and Fujikura are gaining almost 4 percent each. Dentsu Group is adding more than 3 percent and Komatsu is up almost 3 percdent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 159 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Friday after recovering from an initial pullback to end Thursday’s session mostly higher. The major averages fluctuated over the course of the session before closing mixed.

While the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 80.48 points or 0.4 percent to a more than one-month closing high of 22,902.89, the S&P 500 edged down 7.77 points or 0.1 percent to 6,816.89 and the Dow slid 269.23 points or 0.6 percent to 47,916.57.

Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day little changed. While the French CAC 40 Index crept up by 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K’s FTSE 100 Index both closed just below the unchanged line.

Crude oil prices slumped Friday despite persistent tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was down $1.15 or 1.18 percent at $96.72 per barrel.

Market Analysis