TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is declining on Tuesday despite the overnight gains on Wall Street as investors booked profits after three consecutive days of gains and also turned cautious ahead of key central bank meetings this week.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 176.47 points or 0.75 percent to 23,382.83, after touching a low of 23,351.35 earlier. Japanese stocks rose for the third straight day on Monday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is declining more than 1 percent after strong gains in the previous session, while Fast Retailing is down almost 1 percent.
The major exporters are lower on a stronger yen. Sony and Canon are losing more than 2 percent each, while Panasonic is lower by almost 2 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is declining more than 1 percent.
In the tech space, Tokyo Electron is advancing more than 1 percent, while Advantest is down 0.2 percent. In the financial sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is lower by 0.4 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.1 percent.
Among automakers, Toyota is adding 0.3 percent, while Honda Motor is losing 0.4 percent. In the oil sector, Inpex is lower by almost 2 percent and Japan Petroleum is down almost 1 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Tokai Carbon is gaining almost 4 percent and Showa Denko is rising more than 2 percent.
Conversely, JFE Holdings is losing more than 4 percent, while Yokogawa Electric, Hino Motors, JTEKT Corp. and Nippon Steel are all lower by almost 4 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 105 yen-range on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed higher on Monday, partly reflecting a rebound by technology stocks, which recovered after leading the markets lower last week. Shares of Nvidia saw considerable strength after the graphics chip maker announced a $40 billion acquisition of chip designer Arm Holdings. Oracle also posting a standout gain amid reports the business software giant has edged out rival Microsoft in negotiations for the U.S. operations of TikTok. Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to news that AstraZeneca has resumed a late-stage clinical trial of its coronavirus vaccine.
The Dow jumped 327.69 points or 1.2 percent to 27,993.33, the Nasdaq soared 203.11 points or 1.9 percent to 11,056.65 and the S&P 500 surged up 42.57 points or 1.3 percent to 3,383.54.
The major European markets turned in a mixed performance on Monday. While the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both edged down by 0.1 percent.
Crude oil futures settled lower on Monday, extending recent losses amid rising concerns about outlook for energy demand after OPEC lowered its oil demand forecast for 2020 and 2021. WTI crude for October ended down $0.07 or about 0.2 percent at $37.26 a barrel.
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