The Japanese stock market has noted a significant decrease this Tuesday, following a decline on Wall Street overnight. This has resulted in the Nikkei 225 Index sliding from record highs and settling marginally above 39,900 points. Losses in the export and technology sectors were only partially balanced by gains in the financial sector.
The Nikkei 225 Index, after initially hitting a low of 39,840.34, is now standing at 39,901.05, marking a fall of 208.18 points or 0.52 percent. Monday saw the completion of a notably successful day for Japanese shares.
Major players in the market such as SoftBank Group and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing have seen rises of 0.1 percent and 0.4 percent respectively. The automotive industry, however, paints a different picture, with Honda experiencing a loss of almost 1 percent while Toyota is marginally up by 0.3 percent.
In terms of technology, Advantest is down by almost 5 percent, with Tokyo Electron losing almost 1 percent and Screen Holdings falling by over 2 percent.
Meanwhile, in banking, there has been a rise of almost 2 percent for Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, and gains of 1.5 percent each for both Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial.
Exporters have generally suffered, with Panasonic down by over 1 percent, Canon down by almost 1 percent, and Sony falling by 0.1 percent. On the other hand, Mitsubishi Electric has experienced a gain of over 1 percent.
Amongst the other notable losses are DeNA by over 4 percent and M3, Hitachi Zosen, Tokyo Tatemono and Toppan Holdings each by almost 3 percent.
Obayashi UBE has seen a significant increase of almost 18 percent, along with other companies such as Kajima, Taisei, Shimizu, Fujikura, and Nitori Holdings gaining between 3 and 7.5 percent.
In related news, a slower expansion in the services sector was noted in Japan in February, according to the Jibun Bank survey. The services PMI score is 52.9, a slight decrease from 53.1 in January, but it still remains in the expansion zone, above the critical 50-point mark.
In currency, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid-150 yen-range for Tuesday.
Overseas on Wall Street, stocks ended slightly lower on Monday after a brief positive period in the final hour of trading failed to garner support.
In Europe, the markets mostly ended lower, with the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and Germany's DAX Index down by 0.55 percent and 0.11 percent respectively, while France's CAC 40 offset this trend, gaining 0.28 percent.
Finally, crude oil prices fell on Monday due to concerns about the outlook for energy demand following OPEC's decision to extend its output cuts until the end of the second quarter. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $1.23 or 1.5 percent at 78.74 a barrel.
