Japanese Market Slightly Lower

Giving up some of the gains the previous two sessions, the Japanese stock market is slightly lower on Tuesday, with the Nikkei 225 staying above the 33,200 mark, following the lack of any major cues from global markets overnight as they were closed for Christmas holiday.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 10.11 points or 0.03 percent at 33,243.92, after touching a high of 33,312.26 and a low of 33,212.18 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.4 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.4 percent and Toyota is edging down 0.5 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are edging up 0.1 percent each, while Screen Holdings is advancing almost 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each.

The major exporters are mixed. Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric are losing almost 1 percent each, while Sony and Canon are edging up 0.1 percent each.

Among the other major losers, Takashimaya and Odakyu Electric Railway are losing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major gainers.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 142 yen-range on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, the markets were closed for Christmas holiday on Monday after closing mixed on Friday.

The major European markets also were closed for Christmas holiday on Monday after closing slightly higher on Friday.

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