Japanese Market Notably Lower

Giving up some of the gains in the previous two sessions, the Japanese stock market is notably lower on Tuesday, with the Nikkei 225 retracting from all-time highs to be a tad above the 39,900 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with losses in exporters and technology stocks partially offset by gains in financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 208.18 points or 0.52 percent at 39,901.05, after hitting a low of 39,840.34 earlier. Japanese shares ended notably higher on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is also edging up 0.4 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing almost 1 percent and Toyota is edging up 0.3 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is declining almost 5 percent, Tokyo Electron is losing almost 1 percent and Screen Holdings is slipping more than 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining almost 2 percent, while Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are adding 1.5 percent each.

The major exporters are mostly weak. Panasonic is losing more than 1 percent, Canon is declining almost 1 percent and Sony is edging down 0.1 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is gaining more than 1 percent.

Among the other major losers, DeNA is losing more than 4 percent, while M3, Hitachi Zosen, Tokyo Tatemono and Toppan Holdings are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Obayashi UBE skyrocketing almost 18 percent, Kajima is soaring 7.5 percent, Taisei is surging more than 6 percent, Shimizu is gaining 5.5 percent, Fujikura is adding almost 5 percent and Nitori Holdings is advancing almost 3 percent.

In economic news, the services sector in Japan continued to expand in February, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed on Tuesday with a services PMI score of 52.9. That’s down from 53.1 in January, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

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

On Wall Street, stocks briefly managed to turn positive in the final hour, but failed to find support and ended marginally down on Monday, after a weak start and a subsequent long spell in negative territory.

The major averages all ended in negative territory. The Dow ended down 97.55 points or 0.25 percent at 38,989.83. The S&P 500 settled with a loss of 6.13 points or 0.12 percent at 5,130.95, while the Nasdaq ended lower by 67.43 points or 0.41 percent at 16,207.51.

The major European markets mostly ended lower. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index ended down by 0.55 percent and the German DAX Index drifted down 0.11 percent, France’s CAC 40 gained 0.28 percent.

Crude oil prices ended lower on Monday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand after OPEC extended its output cuts to the end of the second quarter. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $1.23 or 1.5 percent at 78.74 a barrel.

Market Analysis