Japanese Market Modestly Lower

The Japanese stock market is modestly lower on Tuesday, giving up some of the gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 staying above the 32,600 level, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders booked some profits ahead of the Bank of Japan monetary policy meeting this week.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 94.31 points or 0.29 percent at 32,606.63, after hitting a low of 32,561.09 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is declining almost 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.5 percent and Toyota is edging up 0.1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is edging up 0.1 percent, while Tokyo Electron is losing more than 1 percent and Screen Holdings is edging down 0.4 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining almost 1 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are adding more than 1 percent each.

The major exporters are mixed. Canon and Sony are losing almost 1 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.4 percent. Panasonic is edging down 0.3 percent.

Among the other major losers, Nidec is losing more than3 percent and NEXON is down almost 3 percent.

Conversely, Mitsubishi Motors is surging more than 6 percent, Nissan Motor is gaining more than 4 percent, Inpex is advancing almost 4 percent and Yaskawa Electric is up more than 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 141 yen-range on Tuesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Monday after ending last Friday’s trading narrowly mixed. The major averages all moved to the upside, with the Dow once again reaching its best closing level in well over a year.

The major averages gave back some ground going into the close but remained in positive territory. The Dow climbed 183.55 points or 0.5 percent to 35,411.24, the Nasdaq edged up 26.06 points or 0.2 percent to 14,058.87 and the S&P 500 rose 18.30 points or 0.4 percent to 4,554.64.

Meanwhile, the major European markets finished the day mixed. While the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index inched up by 0.1 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil futures settled sharply higher Monday, buoyed by increased demand for gasoline and export cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $1.67 or 2.2 percent at $78.74 a barrel.

Market Analysis