Japanese Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is slightly lower on Tuesday, giving up some of the gains in the previous two sessions, with the Nikkei 225 staying above the 27,400 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness across most sectors, led by technology and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 11.70 points or 0.04 percent at 27,421.70 after hitting a low of 27,379.11 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Monday.

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

In the tech space, Advantest and are losing more than 1 percent, while Tokyo Electron and Screen Holdings are down almost 1 percent each.

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

The major exporters are higher. Sony is gaining more than 1 percent, Panasonic is edging up 0.2 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is adding almost 2 percent, while Canon is losing more than 2 percent. Among the other major losers, there are no other major losers.

Conversely, Chubu Electric Power is surging almost 9 percent, while Sapporo Holdings, NEC and Tokyo Electric Power are adding more than 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 130 yen-range on Tuesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks kept falling right till the end of the day's session on Monday after a weak start, as traders chose to lighten commitments ahead of a slew of earnings from tech firms, and the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision.

The major averages all ended notably lower, with the tech-laden Nasdaq recording a sharp loss. The Dow ended down 260.99 points or 0.77 percent at 33,717.09, the S&P 500 settled lower by 52.79 points or 1.3 percent at 4,017.77, while the Nasdaq closed with a loss of 227.90 points or 1.96 percent at 11,393.81.

The major European markets also closed broadly lower on Monday with investors focusing on corporate earnings updates and looking ahead to the upcoming policy meetings of central banks. Germany's DAX edged down 0.16 percent and France's CAC 40 ended lower by 0.21 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.25 percent.

Crude oil prices fell to near three-week lows on Monday amid concerns about global economic growth and the outlook for oil demand following Russia's decision to allow its energy companies to determine their own pricing and exports. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March dropped $1.78 or 2.2 percent at $77.90 a barrel.