Japanese Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading notably higher on Tuesday after briefly dipping in to the red, snapping a three-session losing streak, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with the Nikkei 225 moving well above the 64,300 level, with gains in automakers, financial and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in index heavyweights.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 318.27 points or 0.50 percent at 64,342.87, after hitting a low of 63,918.96 and a high of 65,042.43 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is declining almost 3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is adding almost 2 percent and Toyota is gaining almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining more than 1 percent, Screen Holdings is advancing almost 3 percent and Tokyo Electron is surging more than 5 percent.

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

The major exporters are mixed. Mitsubishi Electric is gaining more than 1 percent and Panasonic is advancing almost 4 percent, while Canon is edging down 0.1 percent and Sony is losing more than 2 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Kikkoman is surging almost 5 percent, JTEKT is advancing more than 4 percent and Ibiden is gaining almost 3 percent, while T&D Holdings, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha andNichirei are adding almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Sumco is tumbling more than 5 percent, while Mitsui Kinzoku and Mercari are sliding almost 4 percent each. Sumitomo Metal Mining, TDK, Omron, Socionext, Yaskawa Electric and Tokuyama are slipping more than 3 percent each, while Nitto Denko, Sharp, Japan Steel Works, Dowa Holdings and Konami Group are declining almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, the M2 money stock in Japan was up 2.5 percent on year in May, the Bank of Japan said on Tuesday - coming in at 1,298.1 trillion yen. That follows the 2.3 percent annual increase in April and the 2.0 percent gain in March.

The M3 money stock was up 1.7 percent at 1,642.4 trillion yen, while M1 rose 0.3 percent to 1,102.9 trillion yen. The L money stock jumped an annual 4.7 percent to 2,334.5 trillion yen.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 160 yen-range on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a strong move back to the upside in early trading on Monday following Friday's sell-off but gave back ground over the course of the sessions. The major averages pulled back well off their highs of the session, with the Dow dipping into negative territory.

After surging by as much as 1.8 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day up 220.23 points or 0.9 percent at 25,929.66. The S&P 500 also rose 21.99 points or 0.3 percent to 7,405.73, but the narrower Dow slipped 80.77 points or 0.2 percent to 50,786.01.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. The German DAX Index slid by 0.6 percent and the French CAC 40 Index dipped 0.2 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE Index bucked the downtrend and inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices edged higher on Monday as delays in the reopening the Strait of Hormuz persists. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was up $0.52 or 0.57 percent at $91.06 per barrel.