Japanese Market Sharply Higher At Fresh 33-year High

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is sharply higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 32,900 level at fresh 33-year highs, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, with gains across most sectors, led by index heavyweights.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 522.14 points or 1.61 percent at 32,956.14, after touching a 33-year high of 32,979.80 earlier. Japanese shares ended notably higher on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is surging more than 7 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining almost 2 percent and Toyota is adding almost 4 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining 3.5 percent, while Screen Holdings is adding almost 3 percent and Tokyo Electron is advancing more than 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.2 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each.

The major exporters are mixed. Mitsubishi Electric is edging down 0.2 percent, while Canon is edging up 0.2 percent and Sony is gaining almost 1 percent. Panasonic is flat

Among the other major gainers, GS Yuasa and Mitsui Mining & Smelting are gaining more than 4 percent each, while Renesas Electronics and Hitachi Zosen are adding almost 4 percent each. Mazda Motor is up more than 3 percent, while Keisei Electric Railway, Denso and Nissan Motor are advancing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Eisai is losing almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid-139 yen-range on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Monday, adding to the modest gains posted last week. With the upward move on the day, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached their best closing levels in over a year.

The major averages finished the day just off their highs of the session. The Nasdaq surged 202.78 points or 1.5 percent to 13,461.92, the S&P 500 jumped 40.07 points or 0.9 percent to 4,338.93 and the Dow climbed 189.55 points or 0.6 percent to 34,066.33.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index advanced by 0.9 percent, the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.5 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Monday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand following a downward revision in the crude oil price forecast by Goldman Sachs. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July tumbled $3.05 or 4.4 percent at $67.12 a barrel, a three-month low.