Japanese Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading modestly lower on Monday, reversng to the gains in the previous session. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well above the 39,400 level, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, with weakness across most sectors led by index heavyweights, financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 137.39 or 0.35 percent at 39,362.98, after hitting a low of 39,316.21 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.4 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing more than 1 percent, while Toyota is flat.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is losing more than 1 percent and Tokyo Electron is declining more than 1 percent, while Advantest is edging up 0.5 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are losing almost 1 percent each.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Panasonic is gaining more than 4 percent and Sony is surging more than 6 percent each, while Canon and Mitsubishi Electric are edging down 0.1 to 0.2 percent each.

Among other major losers, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Socionext are slipping more than 5 percent each, while Sumco, Nissan Motor and Kubota is losing almost 5 percent each. Secom is down more than 4 percent, while Hitachi Construction Machinery and Shiseido are declining almost 4 percent each. Mitsui Fudosan, Ajinomoto, Ricoh, Olympus, Taisei, Mitsubishi Materials and Daikin Industries are sliding more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, Furukawa Electric is skyrocketing almost 15 percent, DeNA is soaring almost 14 percent, Fujikura is surging more than 7 percent and Suzuki Motor is gaining more than 6 percent, while Sumitomo Electric Industries and Nissui are adding more than 3 percent each. Terumo is up almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 153 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Friday extending the substantial rally seen over the past few sessions. With the continued upward move, the major averages all reached new record closing highs.

The major averages pulled back off their best levels going into the close but remained in positive territory. The Dow climbed 259.65 points or 0.6 percent to 43,988.99, the Nasdaq inched up 17.32 points or 0.1 percent to 19,286.78 and the S&P 500 rose 22.44 points or 0.4 percent to 5,995.54.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 1.2percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both slide by 0.8 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Friday on concerns about the outlook for demand due to data showing a drop in China's oil imports, and disappointment over the size of China's fresh stimulus measures. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December sank $1.98 or 2.7 percent at $70.38 a barrel; the contract gained 1 percent in the week.