The Japanese stock market is modestly lower on Tuesday, erasing early gains despite the positive cues overnight from Wall Street. Investors treaded cautiously as they digested local economic data and awaited the release of China's trade data due later in the day.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 60.93 points or 0.30 percent to 19,994.96, after touching a high of 20,076.80 in early trades.
Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric and Panasonic are losing almost 1 percent each, while Sony is advancing more than 1 percent and Canon is edging up less than 0.1 percent.
Among automakers, Toyota is edging up less than 0.1 percent, while Honda is declining 0.2 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is down 0.6 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is losing 0.5 percent.
In the oil space, Inpex is rising almost 1 percent, while Japan Petroleum Exploration is down almost 2 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Japan Steel Works is rising more than 18 percent, GS Yuasa is gaining more than 11 percent and Maruha Nichiro is advancing more than 4 percent.
On the flip side, Toho Zinc is losing almost 8 percent and Taiyo Yuden are down more than 5 percent each. Pioneer Corp.'s shares are also declining more than 5 percent after the car electronics maker reported a loss for the first quarter and lowered its full-year sales outlook.
On the economic front, the Ministry of Finance said that Japan posted a current account surplus of 934.6 billion yen in June. That beat forecasts for a surplus of 860.5 billion yen following the 1,653.9 billion yen surplus in May.
Exports were up 9.0 percent on year to 6.370 trillion yen, while imports jumped an annual 15.1 percent to 5.852 trillion yen.
The Bank of Japan said that overall bank lending in Japan was up 3.3 percent on year, coming in at 516.253 trillion yen. That was in line with expectations and unchanged from the June reading.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 110 yen-range on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed modestly higher on Monday, with the Dow climbing to a new record closing high for the ninth consecutive session, partly reflecting ongoing positive sentiment following last Friday's upbeat monthly jobs report.
While the Nasdaq climbed 32.21 points or 0.5 percent to 6,383.77, the Dow edged up 25.61 points or 0.1 percent to 22,118.42 and the S&P 500 rose 4.08 points or 0.2 percent to 2,480.91.
The major European markets turned in a mixed performance on Monday. While the German DAX Index fell by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index inched up by 0.1 and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 percent.
Crude oil futures fell on Monday after a recovery in output at Libya's largest oil field and as oil exporters met to discuss a deal to limit output. WTI crude for September delivery slipped $0.19 to $49.39 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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Market Analysis
May 22, 2026 14:46 ET Minutes of the latest Fed policy session was the highlight of the week along with survey data on the U.S. housing market. In Europe, survey data signaled the trends in the euro area private sector. Further, consumer price inflation data from the U.K. was in focus. In Asia, various economic indicators from China drew attention to the health of the economy.