TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is declining on Tuesday following the strong gains in the previous session and despite the positive cues overnight from Wall Street. Investors digested data that showed that Japan's unemployment rate rose to a one-year high in March.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 81.90 points or 0.41 percent to 19,701.32, after rising to a high of 19,841.78 in early trades. Japanese shares posted strong gains on Monday as the Bank of Japan expanded its monetary stimulus for the second straight month.
Market heavyweight SoftBank is declining almost 1 percent, while Fast Retailing is higher by almost 1 percent.
The major exporters are mostly lower despite a weaker yen. Mitsubishi Electric is lower by more than 1 percent, Canon is declining almost 1 percent and Sony is down 0.2 percent, while Panasonic is gaining more than 4 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is up 0.2 percent, while Tokyo Electron is lower by 0.3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is declining more than 1 percent, while Toyota is adding 0.5 percent.
Among the worst performers, Kao Corp. is losing more than 4 percent, while FamilyMart Co., Kyocera Corp. and Seven & I Holdings are lower by almost 3 percent each.
In economic news, the Ministry of Communications and Internal Affairs said that the unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 2.5 percent in March. That was in line with expectations and up from 2.4 percent in February. The jobs-to-applicant ratio was 1.39, shy of expectations for 1.40, and down from 1.45 in the previous month.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 107 yen-range on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed sharply higher on Monday after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced plans for a phased reopening of his state's economy. The announcement by Cuomo comes as other states, including several led by Republican governors, have already started reopening their economies. Buying interest was also generated amid optimism about additional stimulus ahead of Federal Reserve and European Central Bank meetings later this week.
The Dow jumped 358.51 points or 1.5 percent to 24,133.78, the Nasdaq advanced 95.64 points or 1.1 percent to 8,730.16 and the S&P 500 surged up 41.74 points or 1.5 percent to 2,878.48.
The major European markets also showed significant moves to the upside on Monday. The German DAX Index soared by 3.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index surged up by 2.6 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 1.6 percent.
Crude oil prices tanked on Monday amid mounting fears that storage at Cushing, Oklahoma, could reach full capacity soon and that production cuts might not be enough to counter the huge fall in demand amid the coronavirus pandemic. WTI crude for June fell $4.16 or 24.6 percent at $12.78 a barrel. That was the second lowest settlement ever for a front-month contract.
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