Japan Shares Overdue For Profit Taking On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has tracked to the upside in eight consecutive sessions, climbing more than 8,050 points or 12.5 percent in that span. Now at a fresh record closing high, the Nikkei 225 sits just above the 72,350-point plateau although investors figure to lock in gains on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower amid weakness from technology shares and concerns about the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to lower and the Asian bourses figure to also open to the downside.

The Nikkei finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares and technology stocks, while the automobile producers were soft.

For the day, the index spiked 1,103.90 points or 1.55 percent to finish at 72,353.96 after trading between 71,009.52 and 72,831.73.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor plunged 3.20 percent, while Mazda Motor eased 0.14 percent, Toyota Motor slumped 1.26 percent, Honda Motor perked 0.07 percent, Softbank Group collected 1.87 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial expanded 1.68 percent, Mizuho Financial strengthened 2.02 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial rallied 2.51 percent, Mitsubishi Electric vaulted 2.18 percent, Sony Group climbed 1.37 percent, Panasonic Holdings shed 0.59 percent and Hitachi jumped 2.10 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened slightly higher but quickly headed south before finishing mixed.

The Dow climbed 148.01 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 51,712.71, while the NASDAQ tumbled 351.33 points or 1.32 percent to close at 26,166.60 and the S&P 500 sank 27.79 points or 0.37 percent to end at 7,472.79.

The slump by the NASDAQ came amid weakness among technology stocks, with shares of SpaceX (SPCX) plummeting by 16.4 percent. An increase by treasury yields weighed on tech stocks, as the yield on the two-year note reaches its highest levels in over a year.

Concerns about the outlook for interest rates drove yields higher ahead of the release of key inflation data later in the week.

Traders seem worried that an acceleration in the pace of inflation as a result of President Donald Trump's war with Iran could lead the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates later this year.

Crude oil prices plunged on Monday even though the Iranian military says it has again closed off the Strait of Hormuz, although there are reports of commercial vessels are operating freely in the strait. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was down $1.63 or 2.13 percent at $74.97 per barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will see preliminary June results for the manufacturing, services and composite PMIs from S&P Global later this morning; in May, their scores were 54.5, 50.0 and 51.1, respectively.