Japanese Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading slightly lower on Monday after opening in the green, adding to the losses in the previous session. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 39,100 level, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, with weakness in some index heavyweights were partially offset by gains in financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 16.70 or 0.04 percent at 38,191.33, after touching a high of 38,365.01 and a low of 37,958.55 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is almost 4 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining almost 1 percent and Toyota is adding more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is gaining almost 5 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding almost 1 percent and Advantest is edging up 0.2 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining almost 4 percent, Mizuho Financial is adding more than 2 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is up more than 1 percent.

The major exporters are mixed. Panasonic is losing more than 1 percent and Sony is down almost 1 percent, while Canon and Mitsubishi Electric are edging up 0.2 percent each.

Among other major losers, Shiseido is tumbling almost 8 percent, while Mercari, Oriental Land and Dai Nippon Printing are losing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Dai-ichi Life is gaining more than 5 percent and Aozora Bank is adding more than 3 percent, while Seiko Epson, Kuraray, Fuji Electric, Kansai Electric Power, Hitachi and Resona Holdings are all advancing almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Japan continued to contract in November, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed on Monday with a manufacturing PMI score of 49.0. That's down from 49.2 in October, and it moves further beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The reduction was modest, yet the strongest seen since March.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 150 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved back to the upside on Friday as trading resumed following the Thanksgiving Day holiday on Thursday following the pullback seen during Wednesday's session. With the rebound, the major averages more than offset the previous session's losses, lifting the Dow and the S&P 500 to new record closing highs.

The major averages pulled back off their best levels going into the close but remained firmly positive. The Dow rose 188.59 points or 0.4 percent to 44,910.65, the Nasdaq advanced 157.69 points or 0.8 percent to 19,218.17 and the S&P 500 climbed 33.64 points or 0.6 percent to 6,032.38.

The major European markets all also moved to the upside over the course of the session. While the German DAX Index jumped by 1.0 percent, the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index crept up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices settled lower on Friday after OPEC postponed its meeting to Dec. 5, despite expectations the group will delay production increases. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for January shed $0.72 or 1.1 percent at $68.00 a barrel. WTI crude futures lost 4.5 percent in the week.