Japanese Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading notably lower on Tuesday after opening in the green, snapping a three-session winning streak, despite the broadly positive cues from European markets and lack of cues from Wall Street overnight, with the Nikkei 225 falling well below the 64,750 level, with weakness in index heavyweights, automakers and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 441.75 points or 0.68 percent at 64,716.44, after hitting a low of 64,605.69 and a high of 65,317.69 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is jumping more than 8 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.5 percent and Toyota is also edging down 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is tumbling more than 5 percent, Screen Holdings is edging down 0.3 percent and Tokyo Electron is declining more than 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing almost 1 percent, while Mizuho Financial is gaining almost 1 percent.

The major exporters are mixed. Mitsubishi Electric and Panasonic are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Sony and Canon are losing more than 1 percent each.

Among the other major losers, Chugai Pharmaceutical is tumbling more than 5 percent, while ARCHION and Kioxia Holdings are sliding almost 5 percent each. Eisai is declining more than 4 percent, while Fujikura and Trend Micro are slipping almost 4 percent each. SHIFT and Mitsubishi are down more than 3 percent each, while Daikin Industries, Shiseido, Nikon and Olympus are losing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Taiyo Yuden is jumping almost 9 percent, while Kawasaki Heavy Industries and IHI are surging more than 7 percent each. Taisei and Kajima are advancing more than 5 percent each, while AGC, Ibiden and Furukawa Electric are gaining almost 5 percent each. Shimizu is adding more than 4 percent each, while Renesas Electronics, NTN, Tokuyama and Japan Steel Works are rising more than 3 percent each. Murata Manufacturing is up almost 3 percent.

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

On Wall Street, the markets were closed on Monday for Memorial Day holiday.

The major European markets moved to the upside over the course of the session. Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 moved up 2.01% and 1.76%, respectively. The UK market remained closed for Bank Holiday.

Crude oil prices slumped to hit two-week lows on Monday amid expectations that a potential U.S.-Iran peace deal could restore smoother energy flows through the key shipping route. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was down 5.2 percent at $91.56 per barrel.