Japanese Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading notably lower on Monday, extending the losses in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 falling to near the 38,000 mark, with weakness across most sectors led by index heavyweights, exporters and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 207.71 points or 0.54 percent at 38,195.52, after hitting a low of 38,026.32 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Friday.

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

In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are losing more than 2 percent each, while Screen Holdings is declining almost 4 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing almost 1 percent and Mizuho Financial is edging down 0.3 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging up 0.2 percent.

The major exporters are mostly lower. Panasonic is edging down 0.5 percent and Sony is losing more than 2 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric and Canon are declining almost 1 percent each. Among the other major losers, Lasertec is losing almost 4 percent, while Fujikura and Disco are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Sapporo Holdings is surging more than 5 percent, IHI is gaining more than 4 percent, Kawasaki Heavy Industries is adding more than 3 percent and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is advancing almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 146 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks closed mixed on Friday after moving to the upside in early trading with traders returning to their desks following the Juneteenth holiday on Thursday. Traders keep a close eye on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran.

The Dow rose 36.12 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 42,206.82, while the NASDAQ slipped 98.89 points or 0.51 percent to close at 19,447.41 and the S&P 500 eased 13.03 points or 0.22 percent to end at 5,967.84.

The major European markets also closed mixed on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 slipped 17.15 points or 0.20 percent to close at 8,774.65, while Germany's DAX jumped 293.17 points or 1.27 percent to finish at 23,350.55 and France's CAC 40 added 36.21 points or 0.48 percent to end at 7,589.66.

Crude oil prices slipped on Friday as concerns of U.S. involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict faded, even as the fighting between the two nations intensified. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery closed down by $0.21 to $74.93 per barrel.