Japanese Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is modestly lower in post-holiday trading on Tuesday, extending the loses in the previous three sessions, with the Nikkei 225 falling well below the 38,700 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness across most sectors led by index heavyweights, financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 520.51 points or 1.33 percent at 38,669.89, after hitting a low of 38,654.82 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly lower on Friday ahead of the holiday on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing almost 2 percent, while Toyota is edging up 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 6 percent and Tokyo Electron is down more than 2 percent, while Screen Holdings gaining more than 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing almost 2 percent, Mizuho Financial is edging down 0.2 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is down more than 1 percent.

The major exporters are mostly lower. Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric are losing almost 1 percent each, while Sony is down more than 1 percent. Canon is edging up 0.4 percent.

Among the other major losers, Furukawa Electric is slipping more than 5 percent, Socionext is down almost 5 percent and Yaskawa Electric is sliding more than 4 percent, while Fujikura, Lasertec and Disco are declining almost 4 percent each. Mercari, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, CyberAgent, Nissan Motor and Ebara are down almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Ryohin Keikaku is surging more than 6 percent, Trend Micro is advancing almost 4 percent, M3 is gaining more than 3 percent and Idemitsu Kosan is adding almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 157 yen-range on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a notable move to the downside early in the session on Monday but regained ground over the course of the trading day. The S&P 500 climbed well off its worst levels of the day and into positive territory, although the Nasdaq remained in the red.

The S&P 500 rose 9.18 points or 0.2 percent to 5,836.22, while the Nasdaq fell 73.53 points or 0.4 percent to a one-month closing low of 19,088.10. The narrower Dow, on the other hand, spent most of the day in positive territory before closing up 358.67 points or 0.9 percent at 42,297.12.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index slid by 0.4 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index both fell by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices rose sharply to a five-month high on Monday amid potential supply risks after the U.S. imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia's oil exports, while a stronger dollar also weighed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February closed up $2.25 or nearly 3 percent at $78.82 a barrel.