TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is modestly lower on Tuesday following the negative cues overnight from Wall Street and on news that China has lowered its economic growth target for this year.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 64.15 points or 0.29 percent to 21,757.89, off a low of 21,666.34 earlier. Japanese shares rose sharply on Monday.
The major exporters are mostly lower on a slightly stronger yen. Mitsubishi Electric is declining almost 1 percent, Panasonic is lower by 0.3 percent, Canon is down 0.2 percent and Sony is unchanged.
In the tech sector, Advantest is declining more than 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is lower by almost 2 percent.
Among the major automakers, Honda is down 0.4 percent, Toyota is losing 0.6 percent and Subaru is losing more than 1 percent. Kyodo News reported, citing sources, that Toyota and Subaru have started to jointly develop a new electric car that is planned to be launched possibly in 2021.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging down 0.1 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is lower by more than 1 percent.
In the oil space, Inpex is declining more than 1 percent and Japan Petroleum is lower by almost 1 percent even as crude oil prices rose overnight.
Among the major gainers, CyberAgent is rising more than 3 percent and Fast Retailing is higher by more than 2 percent.
On the flip side, Mitsui E&S is losing almost 5 percent, Taiyo Yuden is lower by 4 percent and IHI Corp. is down more than 3 percent.
On the economic front, the services sector in Japan continued to expand in February, and at a faster rate, the latest survey from Nikkei revealed on Tuesday with a services PMI score of 52.3. That's up from 51.6 in January and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
The survey also showed that the composite index, which combines manufacturing and services data, fell to 50.7 from 50.9 in the previous month.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 111 yen-range on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed lower on Monday after seeing initial strength following reports from multiple sources that the U.S. and China are in the final stage of negotiations on a long-term trade deal. However, buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading as traders waited for more concrete developments on the trade front. Negative sentiment was also generated by a report from the Commerce Department showing an unexpected drop in construction spending in the month of December.
The Dow slid 206.67 points or 0.8 percent to 25,819.65, the Nasdaq dipped 17.79 points or 0.2 percent to 7,577.57 and the S&P 500 fell 10.88 points or 0.4 percent to 2,792.81.
The major European markets closed mixed on Monday. While the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index both rose by 0.4 percent.
Crude oil prices moved higher on Monday, amid growing optimism about a trade deal between the U.S. and China this month, and on OPEC-led output cuts. WTI crude for April added $0.79 or 1.4 percent to close at $56.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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