TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is significantly lower on Monday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 just below the 28,300 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, with weakness across most sectors amid continuing concerns about the impact of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus with fresh lockdowns in Europe and restrictions in some other countries.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 261.38 points or 0.92 percent at 28,284.30, after hitting a low of 28,252.20 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Friday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.5 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing more than 2 percent and Toyota is edging down 0.5 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is gaining more than 1 percent, while Tokyo Electron and Screen Holdings are losing more than 1 percent each. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are losing almost 2 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is declining more than 1 percent.
The major exporters are mixed, with Panasonic edging up 0.4 percent, while Sony is slipping almost 1 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is losing more than 1 percent and Canon is declining almost 2 percent.
Among the other major losers, Shinsei Bank is losing almost 6 percent and Bridgestone is down almost 4 percent, while JTEKT, Mazda Motor and Seiko Epson are declining more than 3 percent each. NTN, Tokyo Electric Power, Aeon, Taiheiyo Cement, Yokohama Rubber, NSK, Dowa Holdings, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings and Nomura Holdings are all slipping almost 3 percent each.
Conversely, NEC and Trend Micro are gaining more than 2 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid-113 yen-range on Monday.
On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading day on Friday but largely maintained a negative bias following the pullback seen in the previous session. The-tech heavy Nasdaq saw particular volatility following the steep drop seen on Thursday.
The Dow and the S&P 500 closed firmly in the red, while the Nasdaq posted a much more modest loss. While the Nasdaq edged down 10.75 points or 0.1 percent to 15,169.68, the Dow tumbled 532.20 points or 1.5 percent to 35,365.44 and the S&P 500 slumped 48.03 points or 1 percent to 4,620.64.
The major European markets also moved mostly lower over the course of the session. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index edged down by 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively.
Crude oil prices tumbled Friday on concerns for energy demand due to a rapid surge in Omicron variant of the coronavirus and reimposition of restrictions. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January sank $1.52 or 2.1 percent at $70.86 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 1.1 percent in the week.
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