Japanese Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading notably lower on Monday, reversing some of the gains in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 60,300 level, with weakness in technology stocks partially offset by gains in exporters and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 257.26 points or 0.42 percent at 60,280.10, after hitting a low of 60,070.15 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 4 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.2 percent and Toyota is gaining 1.5 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is declining more than 5 percent, while Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron are losing more than 2 percent each.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is advancing almost 3 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are gaining more than 2 percent each.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.2 percent, Sony is gaining more than 1 percent and Canon is adding almost 2 percent, while Panasonic is losing more than 1 percent.

Among the other major losers, Nitto Denko is tumbling almost 7 percent and Hitachi is sliding more than 6 percent, while Sumitomo Pharma and Tokuyama are sliding almost 6 percent each. Renesas Electronics is declining more than 5 percent each. Socionext is losing almost 5 percent and Daiwa Securities are down more than 4 percent, while Fanuc, Lasertec, Astellas Pharma and Fujitsu are falling almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Orix is soaring more than 10 percent, while Taisei and ARCHION are surging almost 7 percent each. Kikkoman and Chugai Pharmaceutical are advancing almost 6 percent each. Fukuoka Financial Group is gaining more than 4 percent, while Shimizu, SHIFT, Kajima, Kioxia Holdings, Obayashi, Chiba Bank and Shiseido are adding almost 4 percent each. Yokohama Financial Group and Kubota are rising more than 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 159 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Monday following the strength seen during last Friday's sessions. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing narrowly mixed.

While the Nasdaq rose 50.50 points or 0.2 percent to 24,887.10 and the S&P 500 inched up 8.83 points or 0.1 percent to 7,173.91, reaching new record closing highs, the Dow edged down 62.92 points or 0.1 percent to 49,167.79.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices soared on Monday after the proposed U.S.-Iran negotiations were called off by the U.S. as supply disruption concerns continue. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery was up $2.32 or 2.46 percent at $96.72 per barrel.