Japanese Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading notably higher in choppy trading on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from European markets and lack of cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving well above the 39,300 level, with gains in financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 181.15 points or 0.46 percent at 39,355.40, after touching a high of 39,367.38 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.4 percent, while Toyota is edging up 0.3 percent.

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

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging up 0.3 percent.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Panasonic is gaining almost 3 percent, while Canon and Mitsubishi Electric are edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each. Sony is edging down 0.2 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Japan Steel Works and Furukawa Electric are surging almost 6 percent each, while Kanadevia is gaining more than 5 percent. Mitsubishi Motors and M3 are advancing almost 5 percent each, while IHI is adding more than 4 percent. Ebara, Nissan Motor, Tokyo Gas and Taisei are rising almost 4 percent each, while SMC is up almost 3 percent.

Conversely, Rakuten Group is losing 4.5 percent, Nippon Express is declining more than 3 percent and J. Front Retailing is down almost 3 percent.

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

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

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.41 percent, Germany's DAX ended stronger by 1.26 percent and France's CAC 40 edged up 0.13 percent.

Crude oil prices were higher on Monday on the prospect of peace in Eastern Europe, as talks to end the war between Russia and Ukraine are expected to begin in Saudi Arabia later in the week. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Crude Oil Futures for April settlement edged up 0.08 percent to close at $71.33 a barrel.