Japanese Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is sharply lower on Monday, giving up some of the gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 26,700 level, tracking the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, on rising fears of recession and higher interest rates. The yen also touched a 32-year low versus the dollar.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 397.07 or 1.47 percent at 26,693.69, after hitting a low of 26,649.13 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing are losing almost 1 percent each. Among automakers, Honda and Toyota are edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing almost 2 percent, Tokyo Electron is declining almost 1 percent and Screen Holdings is edging down 0.4 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is losing more than 1 percent and Mizuho Financial is edging down 0.1 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining almost 3 percent.

The major exporters are weak, with Panasonic and Sony losing more than 1 percent each, while Canon and Mitsubishi Electric are edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each. Among the other major gainers, M3 is losing almost 5 percent and Recruit Holdings is down more than 3 percent, while Keyence, Chugai Pharmaceutical, Eisai, Inpex, Shin-Etsu Chemical, Itochu, Mitsui & Co. and Terumo are all slipping almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is surging almost 6 percent, while Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings is gaining more than 4 percent each. Takashimaya is adding almost 4 percent, while Nippon Yusen K.K. and J. Front Retailing are up almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid-148 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a substantial pullback over the course of the trading session on Friday. The major averages all posted steep losses, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq plunging to its lowest closing level in over two years.

The major averages saw further downside going into the close, ending the day near their lows of the session after ending Thursday's wild ride sharply higher. The Dow slumped 403.89 points or 1.3 percent to 29,634.83, the Nasdaq dove 327.76 points or 3.1 percent to 10,321.39 and the S&P 500 tumbled 86.84 points or 2.4 percent to 3,583.07.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index climbed by 0.7 percent and the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.9 percent.

Crude oil prices plummeted on Friday, weighed down by concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid the rising possibility of a global recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended lower by $3.50 or 3.9 percent at $85.61 a barrel.