The Japanese stock market is trading significantly lower on Monday, relinquishing the gains from the previous two sessions. Despite broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is notably below the 38,000 mark, primarily due to weaknesses in exporters, technology, and financial stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index has dropped 423.69 points, or 1.10 percent, to 37,940.58, after hitting a low of 37,825.31 earlier in the day. Japanese stocks had modest gains on Friday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group remains flat, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is up by more than 2 percent. In the automotive sector, Honda has fallen over 3 percent, and Toyota is down by more than 2 percent.
In the technology sector, Screen Holdings is losing nearly 2 percent, Advantest is down by 2.5 percent, and Tokyo Electron has dropped more than 1 percent.
Banking stocks are mixed; Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging up by 0.5 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial has decreased by nearly 2 percent, and Mizuho Financial is down by more than 2 percent.
Key exporters are also underperforming: Canon and Mitsubishi Electric are down almost 2 percent each, Sony has lost nearly 1 percent, and Panasonic is down over 1 percent.
Other notable decliners include Isetan Mitsukoshi, which has slipped almost 5 percent; Furukawa Electric, Yamaha Motor, Nissan Motor, and Taiyo Yuden, all of which have lost over 4 percent. TDK, Chugai Pharmaceutical, Mazda Motor, and Sumco are down nearly 4 percent each, while Kikkoman, Suzuki Motor, and Mitsubishi Motors have all dropped over 3 percent. Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Subaru have each declined almost 3 percent.
Conversely, LY is up nearly 5 percent, and Nitori Holdings has gained almost 4 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 143 yen range on Monday.
On Wall Street, stocks saw a robust recovery on Friday following a previous session's pullback. The major averages improved significantly, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching their highest closing levels since mid-July.
Although the major indices retreated slightly after an early rally, they posted notable gains late in the session. The Dow surged 462.30 points, or 1.1 percent, to 41,175.08, the Nasdaq jumped 258.44 points, or 1.5 percent, to 17,877.79, and the S&P 500 climbed 63.97 points, or 1.2 percent, to 5,634.61.
In Europe, major markets also moved higher. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.5 percent, while France's CAC 40 Index and Germany's DAX Index rose by 0.7 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.
Crude oil prices showed another strong upward move on Friday after Thursday's rebound. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery surged $1.82, or 2.5 percent, to $74.83 a barrel, following a $1.08 increase, or 1.5 percent, to $73.01 a barrel on Thursday. However, for the week, crude oil prices fell by 0.9 percent due to earlier sell-offs.
