Japanese Market Is Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - Adding to the gains in the previous three sessions, the Japanese stock market is notably higher in post-holiday trading on Tuesday, with the Nikkei 225 moving well above the 37,900 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains is some index heavyweights and exporter stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 37,974.98, up 251.07 points or 0.67 percent, after touching a high of 38,427.15 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Friday ahead of the holiday on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining 1.5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is flat and Toyota is edging down 0.3 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is edging up 0.5 percent, while Screen Holdings is losing 1.5 percent and Tokyo Electron is down almost 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging up 0.1 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Canon and Panasonic are adding almost 1 percent each, while Sony is gaining more than 3 percent. Mitsubishi Electric is edging down 0.1 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Japan Steel Works is soaring almost 8 percent and Hitachi is surging almost 5 percent, while NTT Data and Isetan Mitsukoshi are gaining more than 4 percent each. Japan Exchange Group, TDK, Omron, IHI, Kikkoman, Obayashi and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries are adding almost 4 percent each, while J. Front Retailing, Fujikura and Nidec are advancing more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, Renesas Electronics is losing almost 5 percent, while Daiichi Sankyo and Resonac Holdings are declining almost 4 percent each. East Japan Railway, Socionext and Nitori Holdings are down almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 143 yen-range on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks closed higher on Monday and the Dow and S&P 500 posted record highs, although the gains were just marginal, as investors largely made cautious moves ahead of some crucial economic data and Fed speeches.

The Dow ended up by 61.29 points or 0.15 percent at 42,124.65. The S&P 500 closed up 16.02 points or 0.28 percent at 5,718.57, while the Nasdaq settled with a gain of 25.95 points or 0.14 percent at 17,974.27.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have turned mixed on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices were unable to hold early gains, slumping midday on demand concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery fell $0.47 or 0.66 percent to $70.53 per barrel.