TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market on Monday halted the two-day winning streak in which it had added just 50 points or 0.2 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 39,580-point plateau and the losses may accelerate on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on renewed trade and tariff concerns. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The Nikkei finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers.
For the day, the index tumbled 223.20 points or 0.56 percent to finish at 39,587.68 after trading between 39,524.25 and 39,829.38.
Among the actives, Nissan Motor plunged 4.91 percent, while Mazda Motor stumbled 2.67 percent, Toyota Motor retreated 1.25 percent, Honda Motor declined 1.46 percent, Softbank Group skidded 1.07 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial tanked 2.31 percent, Mizuho Financial surrendered 2.42 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial tumbled 2.11 percent, Mitsubishi Electric dropped 0.94 percent, Sony Group dipped 0.14 percent, Panasonic Holdings slumped 1.72 percent and Hitachi sank 1.22 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened under water and trended steadily lower as the day progressed, ending near session lows.
The Dow tumbled 422.17 points or 0.94 percent to finish at 44,406.36, while the NASDAQ sank 188.59 points or 0.92 percent to end at 20,412.52 and the S&P 500 dropped 49.37 points or 0.79 percent to close at 6,229.98.
The early weakness on Wall Street partly reflect profit taking following the strong upward move seen over the past few sessions.
Further selling pressure was generated in afternoon trading after President Donald Trump shared screen shots on Truth Social of letter sent to various world leaders about new tariffs set to be imposed on August 1st.
Imports from Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Kazakhstan are now set to face 25 percent tariffs, according to the letters Trump posted.
Crude oil prices edged higher Monday, shrugging off oversupply concerns triggered by OPEC's decision to accelerate its production increase starting in August. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery rose $0.93 to settle at $67.93 per barrel.
Closer to home, Japan will provide May figures for current account and June data for bank lending and the eco watchers current index later today. The current account is expected to show a surplus of $2.940 trillion, up from 2.258 trillion in April.
Overall bank lending is tipped to rise 2.3 percent on year, easing from 2.4 percent in May. The eco watchers index is expected to see a score of 45.2, up from 44.4 in the previous month.
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