Japanese Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - Recouping some of the losses in the previous session, the Japanese stock market is notably higher on Tuesday, with the Nikkei 225 moving well above the 39,900 level, despite the mostly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 171.79 points or 0.43 percent at 39,974.88, after touching a high of 40,151.05 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is also edging up 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining almost 1 percent and Toyota is also adding almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and are gaining almost 1 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding almost 3 percent and Screen Holdings is advancing almost 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are gaining almost 1 percent each.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Canon and Sony are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is adding more than 1 percent. Panasonic is losing almost 1 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Sumco is gaining almost 4 percent, while Renesas Electronics, Ebara and Resonac Holdings are adding more than 3 percent each. Sumitomo Metal Mining, Nippon Steel, MS&AD Insurance Group, Tokio Marine and Toyota Tsusho are advancing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Odakyu Electric Railway is losing more than 3 percent and Rakuten Group is declining almost 3 percent.

In economic news, the monetary base in Japan was up 1.6 percent on year in March, the Bank of Japan said on Tuesday - coming in at 666.240 trillion yen. That was well shy of forecasts for an increase of 2.5 percent and down from the upwardly revised 2.4 percent gain in February (originally 2.1 percent). The seasonally adjusted monetary base rose 3.6 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 151 yen-range on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Monday after failing to sustain an early move to the upside. The Dow and the S&P 500 gave back ground after ending last Thursday's trading at record closing highs, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq managed to end the day in positive territory.

While the Nasdaq inched up 17.37 points or 0.1 percent to 16,396.83, the Dow slid 240.52 points or 0.6 percent to 39,566.85 and the S&P 500 dipped 10.58 points or 0.2 percent to 5,243.77.

Meanwhile, the major European markets were all closed on the day for Easter Monday.

Crude oil prices moved higher Monday amid concerns about a possible drop in supplies following reports of an Israeli strike near the Iranian embassy in Damascus. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.54 or 0.65 percent at $83.71 a barrel.