Japanese Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is modestly lower in choppy trading on Monday, extending the losses in the previous session, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The Nikkei 225 is falling well below the 65,950 level, with weakness in index heavyweights, automakers and financial stocks partially offset by gains in exporter and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 102.10 points or 0.15 percent at 65,914.26, after hitting a low of 65,653.39 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.4 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is sliding more than 1 percent and Toyota is also losing more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is down almost 1 percent, while Tokyo Electron is gaining almost 2 percent and Screen Holdings is adding almost 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are declining almost 1 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is edging down 0.3 percent.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Mitsubishi Electric and Canon are edging up 0.2 percent each, while Panasonic and Sony are gaining almost 2 percent each.

Among the other major gainers, Sumitomo Metal Mining is surging almost 6 percent and Hitachi Construction Machinery is advancing more than 4 percent, while Sumitomo Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Materials are gaining almost 4 percent each. Komatsu and SHIFT are adding more than 3 percent each, while Dowa Holdings, Taiyo Yuden and Sumco are up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Mercari is sliding more than 4 percent, while Tokyo Electric Power and Fujikura are slipping more than 3 percent each. Kansai Electric Power is declining almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 158 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved back to the upside during trading on Friday following the sell-off seen during the previous session. The major averages all moved notably higher on the day, with the Dow showing a notable advance.

The major averages all ended the day in positive territory. The Dow jumped 517.80 points or 1 percent to 53,277.01, the Nasdaq climbed 113.29 points or 0.4 percent to 26,180.45 and the S&P 500 rose 33.21 points or 0.4 percent at 7,674.37.

The major European markets all also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both climbed by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices edged higher on Friday as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, heightening supply concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $0.44 or 0.51 percent at $87.27 per barrel.