Japanese stock market is modestly lower in choppy trading on Monday, giving up some of the gains of the previous two sessions, with the Nikkei 225 staying above the 29,000 mark, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday. Investors are spooked after Tokyo confirmed 386 fresh coronavirus cases on Sunday.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 48.33 points or 0.17 percent to 29,017.85, after hitting a low of 29,003.73 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly higher on Friday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is flat and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda and Mazda are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Toyota is edging down 0.2 percent. Nissan Motor is adding almost 3 percent.
The major exporters are mixed, with Canon edging up 0.3 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is losing more than 1 percent and Panasonic is edging down 0.5 percent. Sony is flat.
In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are losing more than 1 percent each, while Screen Holdings is down almost 2 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging up 0.5 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is gaining almost 1 percent.
Among the other major losers, Konami Holdings is losing more than 2 percent, while Asahi Group and Nexon are adding almost 2 percent each.
Conversely, Seven & I Holdings is gaining 4.5 percent and Nippon Steel is adding 3.2 percent, while Hitachi Zosen, JFE Holdings and Showa Denko K.K. are up almost 3 percent each. T&D Holdings, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, GS Yuasa and Nomura Holdings are all higher by more than 2 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 110 yen-range on Monday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed on a firm note on Friday as optimism about strong economic growth outweighed concerns about inflation, prompting traders to build up fresh positions at several counters. The major averages all closed higher, with the S&P 500 hitting a new record high in the session.
The Dow ended Friday’s session with a gain of 237.02 points or 0.69 percent at 34,433.84, while the Nasdaq edged down 9.32 points or 0.06 percent to settle at 14,360.39. The S&P 500 ended the session with a gain of 14.21 points or 0.33 percent at 4,280.70, slightly off a new high of 4,286.12.
The major European markets also turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.4 percent and the German DAX Index moved up 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index slid 0.1 percent.
Crude oil prices moved higher on Friday. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for august rose 1 percent to $74.05 a barrel.
Market Analysis
Japanese Market Modestly Lower
2021-06-28 02:25:59
