TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is sharply lower on Monday, giving up the gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 staying above the 27,200 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday, with technology stocks leading the decline, partially offset by gains in financial stocks.
Meanwhile, traders also remain concerned about the spike in domestic coronavirus cases, with Japan topping 1,00,000 daily new cases for the first time on Saturday and hitting record daily highs for the past two weeks. While 34 of Japan's 47 prefectures are already under quasi-state of emergency, there could be a move to enforce a stronger state of emergency is some.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 198.45 points or 0.72 percent at 27,241.54, after hitting a low of 27,085.32 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Friday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 4 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing more than 1 percent and Toyota is edging down 0.5 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is losing 3.5 percent, Tokyo Electron is declining almost 2 percent and Screen Holdings is down more than 2 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining almost 2 percent, while Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are adding more than 1 percent.
The major exporters are mixed, with Panasonic losing almost 1 percent and Canon edging down 0.2 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.5 percent. Sony is flat.
Among the other major losers, Taiyo Yuden is plunging almost 12 percent, Olympus is losing almost 9 percent, Sumco is slipping almost 8 percent, Tokai Carbon is declining more than 4 percent and Minebea Mitsumi is down almost 4 percent.
Conversely, Nissan Chemical is gaining more than 5 percent and Dai-ichi Life Holdings is adding more than 3 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 115 yen-range on Monday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed higher on Friday, with investors reacting to another batch of earnings updates, and digesting the non-farm payrolls data for the month of January.
Among the major averages, the Dow edged lower by 21.42 points or 0.06 percent to 35,089.74. The S&P 500 advanced 23.09 points or 0.52 percent to 4,500.53, while the Nasdaq climbed 219.19 points or 1.58 percent to settle at 14,098.01.
Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. Germany's DAX declined 1.75 percent, and France's CAC 40 drifted down 0.77 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged down 0.17 percent.
Crude oil prices rose sharply on Friday and lifted the most active crude futures contracts to their highest close in over seven years. Rising concerns over supply disruptions fueled the rally, as did mounting tensions between Russia and Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $2.04 or 2.3 percent at $92.31 a barrel, the highest settlement since September 29, 2014. WTI crude oil futures gained more than 6 percent in the week.
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