Japanese Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is notably higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 28,300 level, following the mixed cues from global markets overnight, with traders hoping that the Bank of Japan will maintain its ultra-loose policy to support the fragile economy.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 123.60 points or 0.44 percent at 28,361.38, after touching a high of 28,398.27 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding 1.5 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.2 percent and Toyota is flat.

In the tech space, Advantest and Screen Holdings are edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is losing almost 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is gaining almost 1 percent.

The major exporters are mixed. Sony is gaining almost 1 percent, while Canon is losing almost 1 percent. Mitsubishi Electric and Panasonic are flat. Among the other major gainers, Kobe Steel is gaining more than 5 percent and Teijin is adding more than 4 percent, while Taiheiyo Cement, OKUMA, Sumitomo Osaka Cement and NSK are up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major losses.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the 136 yen-range on Tuesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks showed a notable move to the upside in morning trading on Monday but gave back ground over the course of the session. The major averages pulled back well off their highs of the session, ending the day narrowly mixed.

After surging as much as 1.2 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a significant pullback and closed down 13.27 points or 0.1 percent at 11,675.74. Meanwhile, the Dow and the S&P 500 pulled back well off their best levels but closed modestly higher. The Dow crept up 40.47 points or 0.1 percent to 33,431.44 and the S&P 500 inched up 2.78 points or 0.1 percent to 4,048.42.

The major European markets also turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index rose 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index climbed 0.5 percent.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Monday after Saudi Arabia signaled that it sees oil demand picking up in Asia and Europe by raising most prices for crude shipments to the regions. West Texas International Crude oil futures for April advanced $0.78 or 1 percent at $80.46 a barrel.