TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is sharply lower on Monday following the negative cues from the U.S. and European markets Friday as weak economic data and an inverted yield curve in the U.S. stoked fears of a global economic slowdown.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 664.62 points or 3.07 percent to 20,962.72, after touching a low of 20,943.00 earlier.
The major exporters are weak as the safe-haven yen strengthened. Mitsubishi Electric is lower by more than 4 percent, while Sony is losing 3 percent. Panasonic and Canon are declining more than 2 percent each.
Shares of Eisai Co. are falling more than 16 percent after the Japanese drugmaker and its partner Biogen's decision last week to end two late-stage clinical trials of their experimental drug for Alzheimer's disease, aducanumab.
In the tech sector, Tokyo Electron is declining 3 percent and Advantest is losing more than 3 percent. Among the major automakers, Honda is declining more than 3 percent and Toyota is lower by more than 2 percent.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are lower by almost 3 percent each. In the oil sector, Inpex and Japan Petroleum are falling more than 4 percent each.
Among the other major decliners, Kajima Corp. is losing almost 4 percent, while Taisei Corp., Obayashi Corp. and Shimizu Corp. are lower by more than 3 percent each.
On the economic front, Japan will see January results for its all industry activity index today.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 109 yen-range on Monday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed sharply lower on Friday, partly reflecting profit taking. Lingering uncertainty about trade talks between the U.S. and China also weighed on the markets ahead of another round of high-level negotiations next week. Traders also continued to digest the Federal Reserve's dovish monetary policy announcement earlier in the week.
The Dow tumbled 460.19 points or 1.8 percent to 25,502.32, the Nasdaq plummeted 196.29 points or 2.5 percent to 7,642.67 and the S&P 500 plunged 54.17 points or 1.9 percent to 2,800.71.
The major European markets showed substantial moves to the downside on Friday. While the German DAX Index tumbled by 1.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both plunged by 2 percent.
Crude oil prices drifted lower on Friday as weak economic data raised worries about global growth and triggered concerns about a drop in fuel demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended down $0.94 or 1.6 percent at $59.04 a barrel.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2019 AFX News
