Japanese Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading modestly lower on Tuesday, reversing some of the strong gains in the previous session, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling below the 50,400 level, with a mixed performance across most sectors.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 127.61 points or 0.25 percent at 50,384.71, after hitting a low of 50,207.38 earlier. Japanese shares ended 2.5 percent higher on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 3 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.1 percent, while Toyota is losing almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Tokyo Electron is gaining more than 1 percent, while Screen Holdings and Advantest are losing almost 1 percent each. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging down 0.4 percent, while Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.2 percent. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is flat.

The major exporters are mixed. Panasonic is gaining almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric edging up 0.2 percent, while Canon is tumbling almost 5 percent and Sony is edging down 0.2 percent.

Among the other major losers, Nidec is tumbling more than 19 percent, while Tosoh and Sumitomo Heavy Industries are declining almost 4 percent each. Dowa Holdings, Shiseido, Sumitomo Metal Mining, Japan Steel Works and Seiko Epson are slipping more than 3 percent each. Yaskawa Electric, Ricoh, Tokai Carbon, Nissan Motor, Sumco and Socionext are losing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, DeNA is surging almost 8 percent and Furukawa Electric is advancing almost 7 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 152 yen-range on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks continued to turn in a strong performance throughout the trading day on Monday after moving sharply higher early in the session. The major averages added to the strong gains posted last week, reaching new record closing highs.

The major averages saw further upside going into the end of the day, reaching new highs for the session. The Nasdaq surged 432.59 points or 1.9 percent to 23,637.46, the S&P 500 jumped 83.47 points or 1.2 percent to 6,875.16 and the Dow climbed 337.47 points or 0.7 percent to 47,544.59.

The major European markets also showed more modest moves to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index rose by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index crept up by 0.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices edged lower after showing a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Monday. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $0.08 or 0.1 percent at $61.42 a barrel.