TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market, which was closed on Monday for a holiday, is notably lower on Tuesday following the lackluster cues from Wall Street and on a stronger yen.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 144.15 points or 0.72 percent to 19,974.71, off a low of 19,943.14 earlier.
The major exporters are mixed despite a stronger yen. Canon is adding 0.3 percent and Toshiba is gaining more than 6 percent, while Panasonic is declining almost 1 percent and Sony is down 0.4 percent.
Among automakers, Toyota and Honda are losing more than 1 percent each. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing more than 2 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is declining more than 1 percent.
In the oil space, Inpex is rising more than 1 percent and Japan Petroleum Exploration is adding 0.2 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Taiyo Yuden is rising more than 3 percent, while Fujitsu and Takeda Pharmaceutical is higher by more than 2 percent each.
On the flip side, Alps Electric is down more than 3 percent, while Amada Holdings and Dai-ichi Life are lower by almost 3 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 112 yen-range on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, stocks meandered slightly back and forth across the unchanged line before closing mixed on Monday. Traders seem reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of earnings news from a number of big-name companies this week.
The Dow shed 8.02 points or 0.04 percent to 21,629.72 and the S&P eased 0.13 points or 0.01 percent to 2,459.14, while the Nasdaq added 1.97 points or 0.03 percent to 6,314.43.
The major European markets also turned in a mixed performance on Monday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 10 Index edged down by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.4 percent.
Crude oil futures were lower Monday after data showed the U.S. oil rig count rose again last week. August WTI oil lost $0.52 or 1.1 percent to $46.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX