Japanese Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is modestly lower on Tuesday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 33,300 level, following the broadly negative cues from European markets overnight, and traders also continued to book profits after the recent rally that pushed the markets to fresh 33-year highs.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 119.00 points or 0.36 percent at 33,251.42, after hitting a low of 33,199.80 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly lower on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.3 percent and Toyota is flat.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining more than 2 percent, Screen Holdings is adding almost 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is advancing almost 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are losing almost 1 percent each, while Mizuho Financial are down more than 1 percent.

The major exporters are mostly lower. Mitsubishi Electric is losing more than 1 percent, while Sony and Panasonic are down almost 1 percent each. Canon is gaining almost 2 percent. Among the other major losers, Sompo Holdings and Tokio Marine Holdings are losing almost 5 percent each, while MS&AD Insurance Group is declining more than 4 percent. Rakuten Group is down almost 3 percent.

Conversely, Mitsubishi is gaining more than 4 percent and OKUMA is adding almost 4 percent, while Mitsui & Co. and Marubeni are advancing almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 142 yen-range on Tuesday.

The Wall Street was closed on account of Juneteenth Day holiday on Monday. The shares closed lower on Friday.

The major European markets moved to the downside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 dropped 0.71 percent, Germany's DAX ended 0.96 percent lower, and France's CAC 40 shed 1.0 percent.

Crude oil prices edged down Monday, with the West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July down $0.16 or 0.2 percent at $71.31 a barrel.