Japanese Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is modestly lower on Monday, giving up some of the gains in the previous two sessions, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 33,600 level off the fresh 33-year highs, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, dragged by losses in technology stocks, partially offset by gains in financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 123.08 or 0.37 percent at 33,583.00, after hitting a low of 33,498.77 earlier. Japanese shares ended notably higher on Friday.

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

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is losing more than 2 percent, Advantest is declining more than 3 percent and Tokyo Electron is down almost 2 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining almost 2 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding almost 1 percent and Mizuho Financial is advancing more than 1 percent.

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

There are no other major losers.

Conversely, Sharp is gaining more than 4 percent and Sumitomo Pharma is adding 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 turned in a lackluster performance throughout much of the trading session on Friday before coming under pressure in the latter part of the session. The major averages all moved to the downside, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the way lower.

The major averages finished the session just off their worst levels of the day. The Nasdaq slid 93.25 points or 0.7 percent to 13,689.57, the S&P 500 fell 16.25 points or 0.4 percent to 4,409.59 and the Dow dipped 108.94 points or 0.3 percent to 34,299.12.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index surged by 1.3 percent, the German DAX Index rose by 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged up by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Friday amid hopes about higher refinery demand and that further stimulus in China will help boost growth in the world's second largest economy. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended higher by $1.16 or 1.6 percent at $71.78 a barrel.