Asian Markets Trade Mostly Higher

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Monday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Thursday ahead of the holiday on Friday, with markets in Japan and South Korea jumping, while most other markets in the region remain closed for holidays. Some traders looked to pick up stocks at a bargain after the recent slump in the markets. Asian markets closed mostly lower on Friday.

Meanwhile, there are renewed concerns about an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East following President Donald Trump's primetime address Wednesday night, with Trump saying the U.S. is going to hit Iran "extremely hard over the next two to three weeks," pushing Iran back to "stone ages where they belong." He reiterated his claim that the war will be over "very shortly."

He intensified pressure on Tehran and warned via social media that Iran could face significant repercussions, including strikes on critical infrastructure such as power plants and bridges, if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed.

Tehran continued strikes on energy assets across the Middle East, while the critical waterway remains effectively closed. A report from Iranian state news said Iran and Oman are drafting a protocol to "monitor transit" through the Strait of Hormuz.

The Australian stock market is closed for Easter Monday on Monday. Australian stocks ended significantly lower on Thursday prior to the holiday on Friday.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.691 on Monday.

The Japanese stock market is trading sharply higher on Monday, extending the gains in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Thursday ahead of the holiday on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 moving a tad above the 54,000 mark, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights, financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 54,001.64, up 878.15 points or 1.65 percent, after touching a high of 53,567.70 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.3 percent, while Toyota is gaining almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Screen Holdings are advancing almost 4 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is gaining more than 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding almost 2 percent.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Panasonic is gaining almost 3 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is adding almost 2 percent and Canon is up almost 1 percent, while Sony is edging down 0.4 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Ibiden is jumping more than 6 percent, while Furukawa Electric, Resonac Holdings and Sumitomo Electric Industries are surging more than 5 percent each. Lasertec, Taiyo Yuden and Dentsu Group are gaining almost 5 percent each. Toppan Holdings and Kirin Holdings are adding more than 4 percent each, while JGC Holdings and Kanadevia are advancing almost 4 percent each. Yokohama Rubber and Disco are up more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, ARCHION is tumbling almost 9 percent and T&D Holdings is slipping more than 6 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 159 yen-range on Monday.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea is up 2.1 percent, while Malaysia and Singapore are up 0.1 and 0.4 percent, respectively. Indonesia is down 0.5 percent. China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are closed for Tomb-Sweeping Day, while New Zealand is closed for Easter Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks recovered from a sharp pullback early in the session on Thursday but showed a lack of direction over the remainder of the trading day. The major averages spent much of the day lingering near the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually ended the day narrowly mixed. While the Dow edged down 61.07 points or 0.1 percent to 46,504.67, the S&P 500 crept up 7.37 points or 0.1 percent to 6,582.69 and the Nasdaq rose 38.23 points or 0.2 percent to 21,879.18.

The major European markets also turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.2 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices catapulted Thursday on concerns of supply disruptions following Trump's address. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was up $11.94 or 11.93 percent at $112.06 per barrel.