The Japanese stock market is modestly lower on Monday, snapping the nine-session winning streak, with the Nikkei 225 staying above the 28,000 mark, following the mostly higher cues from Wall Street on Friday, with losses across most sectors as traders booked profits after the recent winning streak. Traders also continued to monitor the lingering geopolitical situation amid the escalation of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis and the increasing sanctions on Russia.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 115.80 points or 0.41 percent at 28,034.04, after hitting a low of 27,812.67 earlier. Japanese shares ended slightly higher on Friday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down almost 3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.2 percent, while Toyota is gaining almost 1 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is declining more than 1 percent, Tokyo Electron is losing almost 1 percent and Screen Holdings is down almost 2 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is losing almost 2 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is down more than 1 percent, while Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.3 percent.
The major exporters are mixed, with Panasonic losing more than 1 percent and Sony edging down 0.4 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric and Canon are edging up 0.3 percent each.
Among the other major losers, Pacific Metals is losing 6.5 percent, Dowa Holdings is declining more than 5 percent and Toho Zinc is down almost 5 percent, while CyberAgent and Sumitomo Metal Mining are declining more than 4 percent each. Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, M3 and Shin-Etsu Chemical are slipping more than 3 percent each.
Conversely Mitsubishi Logistics is gaining more than 4 percent, while Yokohama Rubber, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust and ANA Holdings are adding almost 3 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 122 yen-range on Monday.
On Wall Street, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Friday after moving sharply higher over the course of the previous session. The major averages fluctuated as the day progressed before ending the session mixed.
The Dow rose 153.30 points or 0.4 percent to 34,861.24 and the S&P 500 climbed 22.90 points or 0.5 percent to 4,543.06. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq recovered from its worst levels of the day but still closed down 22.54 points or 0.2 percent at 14,169.30.
Meanwhile, European stocks saw modest strength on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index ended the session nearly unchanged, the German DAX Index and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index both edged up by 0.2 percent.
Crude oil prices rallied Friday afternoon, lifted by news about a missile strike at an oil storage depot in Saudi Arabian city Jeddah. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $1.56 or 1.4 percent at $113.90 a barrel; they gained nearly 12 percent in the week.
Market Analysis
Japanese Market Modestly Lower
2022-03-28 02:30:15
