Japanese Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - Adding to the losses in the previous session, the Japanese stock market is marginally lower in choppy trading on Tuesday, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 40,400 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with losses index heavyweights and financial stocks partially offset by gains in exporters and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 35.52 points or 0.09 percent at 40,378.60, after hitting a low of 40,308.43 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining almost 1 percent and Toyota is edging up 0.1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Screen Holdings is gaining more than 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is flat.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Canon, Mitsubishi Electric and Sony are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Panasonic is losing almost 1 percent.

Among the other major losers, Tokyu is losing almost 7 percent and Nissan Motor is declining more than 4 percent.

Conversely, IHI is surging more than 6 percent and Mitsubishi Logistics is gaining more than 3 percent, while Japan Steel Works and Fuji Electric are adding almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 151 yen-range on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Monday after an early move to the downside, but largely maintained a negative bias. The major averages all finished the day lower after ending last Friday's trading mixed.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 44.35 points or 0.3 percent to 16,384.47, pulling back off the record closing high set in the previous session, while the S&P 500 dipped 15.99 points or 0.3 percent to 5,218.19 and the Dow slid 162.26 points or 0.4 percent to 39,313.64.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index rose by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index closed just below the unchanged line and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Monday amid concerns about supply disruptions after Ukraine continued to attack Russian refineries. A weak dollar amid expectations of interest rate cuts by central banks contributed as well to the rise in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $1.32 or 1.64 percent at $81.95 a barrel.