The Japanese stock market is declining on Tuesday, after the benchmark Nikkei 225 climbed back towards the 30,000 level in early trades. The market was upbeat on hopes for economic recovery as Japan prepares to ease restrictions in some areas and also on the back of broadly positive lead from Wall Street overnight.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 29,554.75, down 108.75 points or 0.37 percent, after touching a high of 29,996.39 earlier.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing are gaining more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is adding 0.2 percent, while Toyota is edging down 0.1 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is adding 0.4 percent and Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.1 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging down 0.4 percent each.
The major exporters mixed. Canon and Panasonic are higher by almost 2 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric and Sony are losing almost 1 percent each.
Among the other major gainers, Tokai Carbon is rising almost 4 percent, while Nexon and Hitachi Zosen and Taiyo Yuden are gaining almost 3 percent each. Haseko, Terumo, Ricoh and Sumco are higher by more than 2 percent each.
Conversely, Z Holding is losing more than 4 percent, while Mitsui OSK Lines, Tokyo Electric Power and Pacific Metals are lower by more than 3 percent each. Nippon Sheet Glass, Nippon Paper Industries, Unitika, NTT Data, Nippon Yusen and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha are declining almost 3 percent each.
In economic news, the unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 2.9 percent in January, the Ministry of Communications and Internal Affairs said on Tuesday. That was unchanged from the December reading and shy of expectations for 3.0 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 106 yen-range on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, stocks ended sharply higher in trading on Monday, with the major averages all showing strong moves to the upside buoyed by data showing a notable surge in manufacturing activity in the country, and on rising hopes about additional stimulus after the House passed a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill on Saturday.
All the major averages ended the session with handsome gains. The Dow moved up 603.14 points or 1.95 percent to settle at 31,535.51, the S&P 500 climbed 90.67 points or 2.38 percent to 3,901.82, and the Nasdaq closed stronger by 396.48 points or 3.01 percent at 13,588.83.
The major European ended sharply higher on Monday. The U.K.'s FTSE 100, France's CAC 40 and Germany's DAX all advanced 1.6 percent each.
Crude oil prices drifted lower Monday, weighed down by a likely move by major oil producers to increase crude output from April. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended down $0.86 or 1.4 percent at $60.64 a barrel.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
