Japanese Market Notably Lower

The Japanese stock market is notably lower on Monday, giving up the slight gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 staying a tad above the 32,000 mark, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, weighed down by weakness across most sectors, led by technology stocks and index heavyweights.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 134.72 or 0.42 percent at 32,058.03, after hitting a low of 31,830.23 earlier. Japanese shares ended slightly higher on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is declining almost 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.4 percent and Toyota is flat.

In the tech space, Tokyo Electron and Screen Holdings are losing more than 2 percent each, while Advantest is declining almost 4 percent.

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

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

Among other major losers, Marubeni is losing more than 4 percent, UBE is declining almost 4 percent and Subaru is down almost 3 percent.

Conversely, Astellas Pharma is soaring almost 8 percent and Sharp is surging almost 6 percent, while Nissui and Mitsui Chemicals are gaining more than 4 percent each. Z Holdings is adding more than 3 percent and Minebea Mitsumi is up almost 3 percent.

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

On Wall Street, stocks saw substantial volatility during trading on Friday, as traders digested the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly jobs report. The major averages spent the day showing wild swings back and forth across the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually finished the day in negative territory. The Dow fell 150.27 points or 0.4 percent to 35,065.62, the Nasdaq declined 50.48 points or 0.4 percent to 13,909.24 and the S&P 500 slid 23.86 points or 0.5 percent to 4,478.03.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.8 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index rose by 0.5 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday, extending recent gains amid tightening supply issues after Saudi Arabia and Russia pledged to cut output through next month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $1.27 at $82.82 a barrel.

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