Japanese Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is notably lower on Monday, giving up the slight gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 staying a tad above the 32,400 mark, following the mostly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, weighed down by weakness across most sectors, led by exporters and technology stocks. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 142.70 or 0.44 percent at 32,330.95, after hitting a low of 32,261.63 earlier. Japanese shares ended slightly higher on Thursday prior to the holiday on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is declining almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is down 1.5 percent, while Toyota is gaining almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is losing almost 2 percent and Advantest is declining more than 3 percent. Tokyo Electron is flat. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging down 0.2 percent.

The major exporters are weak. Canon and Panasonic are losing almost 1 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is edging down 0.3 percent and Sony is declining more than 2 percent.

Among other major losers, Mitsui E&S is plunging almost 10 percent, Credit Saison is losing more than 5 percent and Pacific Metals is declining almost 4 percent, while Secom and Inpex are down more than 3 percent. Ricoh, Minebea Mitsumi, Amada and Kubota are slipping almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Nippon Sheet Glass is skyrocketing almost 14 percent, NGK Insulators is soaring almost 10 percent, Sharp is surging more than 9 percent and Fujikura is rising almost 9 percent, while Recruit Holdings and Oji Holdings are gaining more than 5 percent each. CyberAgent is adding almost 5 percent and Sapporo Holdings is up more than 4 percent, while Nissan Chemical and Keio are advancing more than 3 percent each. BANDAI NAMCO and Rakuten Group are up almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 144 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, the major U.S. stock indexes turned in a mixed performance during trading on Friday following the release of slightly more than expected producer price inflation data.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq slid 93.14 points or 0.6 percent to 13,644.85, ending the session at its lowest closing level in well over a month. The S&P also edged down 4.78 points or 0.1 percent to a one-month closing low of 4,464.05, while the narrower Dow rose 105.25 points or 0.3 percent to 35,281.40.

Meanwhile, the major European markets showed notable moves to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index slumped 1.0 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 1.2 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Friday after a report from the International Energy Agency forecast strong demand for oil and tightening supplies in the market. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $0.37 at $83.19 a barrel.