Japanese Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading significantly lower on Monday, extending the sharp losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 37,550 level, with weakness across all sectors led by index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 430.98 points or 1.14 percent at 37,534.12, after hitting a low of 37,449.12 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing 2.5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is down almost 2 percent and Toyota is losing more than 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Screen Holdings are declining more than 3 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is losing almost 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing almost 2 percent, while Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are down almost 1 percent each.

The major exporters are mostly lower. Panasonic is losing almost 2 percent, Sony is edging down 0.4 percent and Canon is declining more than 2 percent. Mitsubishi Electric is flat.

Among the other major losers, Nikon, Minebea Mitsumi, Socionext and Resonac Holdings are losing more than 3 percent each, while Murata Manufacturing, Sharp, Recruit Holdings, Taiyo Yuden, Otsuka Holdings, Bridgestone, Mazda Motor, DeNA and Yaskawa Electric are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Sumitomo Pharma is surging more than 7 percent, Fujitsu is gaining more than 4 percent and Sumitomo Realty & Development is adding almost 3 percent.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Japan continued to contract in May, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed on Monday with a manufacturing PMI score of 49.4. That's up from 48.7 in April, although it remains beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 143 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks shook off a sluggish start on Friday, with the major U.S. markets posting a mild recovery to finish mixed and little changed. The early selling pressure on Wall Street came after President Donald Trump accused China of violating the trade agreement reached last month.

The Dow rose 54.34 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 42,270.07, while the NASDAQ slipped 62.11 points or 0.32 percent to close at 19,113.77 and the S&P 500 eased 0.48 points or 0.01 percent to end at 5,911.69.

The major European also closed mixed on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.64 percent, Germany's DAX gained 0.27 percent, and France's CAC 40 closed down 0.34 percent.

Crude oil prices eased on Friday due to uncertainty over Trump's tariffs and their likely impact on global growth and fuel demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery eased $0.18 or 0.30 percent to $60.76 a barrel.