Japanese Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is slightly lower on Tuesday after been in the green most of the morning session, extending the losses in the previous four sessions, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 27,600 level, following the mostly negative cues from European markets overnight, as traders remain concerned over the outlook for interest rates and rising inflation.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 20.91 points or 0.08 percent at 27,598.70, after hitting a low of 27,557.99 and a high of 27,813.78 earlier. Japanese shares ended slightly lower on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.4 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.5 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.1 percent and Toyota is gaining almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Screen Holdings is adding almost 2 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each.

The major exporters are higher, with Sony edging down 0.2 percent, while Panasonic is edging up 0.4 percent. Mitsubishi Electric and Canon are flat. Among the other major losers, Tokyo Electric Power is losing more than 3 percent.

Conversely, Unitika is soaring more than 10 percent, Toho Zinc is gaining almost 5 percent and Takara Holdings is adding almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 140 yen-range on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, the markets were off on Monday for the Labor Day holiday and will return to action on Tuesday.

The major European markets moved mostly to the downside on the day. While the Germany's DAX tumbled 2.22 percent and France's CAC 40 shed 1.2 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.09 percent. Crude oil prices moved sharply higher on Monday ahead of a meeting of OPEC+ producers later in the day to decide on output cuts to support prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October delivery surged 2.6 percent to $89.10 a barrel.