Japanese Market Sharply Higher; Up 6%

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is skyrocketing on Tuesday, snapping a three-session losing streak, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with the Nikkei 225 soaring more than 6 percent to above the 33,000 mark, with string gains across all sectors led by index heavyweights and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 1,904.15 points or 6.12 percent at 33,040.73, after touching a high of 33,080.03 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is soaring almost 11 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining more than 4 percent. Among automakers, Honda is surging more than 6 percent and Toyota is advancing almost 8 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Screen Holdings are soaring almost 12 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is surging more than 9 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is soaring almost 12 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is surging more than 10 percent and Mizuho Financial is advancing almost 13 percent.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Canon is surging almost 7 percent, Sony is soaring more than 8 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is advancing almost 10 percent and Panasonic is gaining almost 6 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Fujikura is skyrocketing more than 19 percent and Japan Steel Works is spiking almost 18 percent, while Resona Holdings, Konica Minolta and Kawasaki Heavy Industries are soaring almost 14 percent each. Hitachi is surging more than 13 percent, while Furukawa Electric, Renesas Electronics and Sumitomo Electric Industries are gaining almost 13 percent each. Socionext and Tokio Marine Holdings are adding more than 12 percent each. Taiyo Yuden is advancing almost 12 percent.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In economic news, Japan posted a current account surplus of 4.061 trillion yen in February, the Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday, up 48.4 percent on year. That beat forecasts for a surplus of 3.80 trillion yen following the 258 billion yen deficit in January.

Imports were down 1.9 percent on year to 8.292 trillion yen and exports rose an annual 10.4 percent to 9.005 trillion yen for a trade surplus of 712.9 billion yen. The capital account saw a shortfall of 42.2 billion yen, while the financial account posted a surplus of 2.307 trillion yen.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 147 yen-range on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw substantial volatility over the course of the trading day on Monday following the nosedive seen over the two previous sessions. The major averages spent the day swinging back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing mixed.

While the tech-heavy Nasdaq inched up 15.48 points or 0.1 percent to 15,603.26 after plummeting by more than 5 percent in early trading, the S&P 500 dipped 11.83 points or 0.2 percent to 5,062.25 and the Dow slid 349.26 points or 0.9 percent to 37,965.60.

Meanwhile, the major European markets showed significant moves to the downside. While the French CAC 40 Index plunged by 4.8 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index tumbled by 4.4 percent and the German DAX Index slumped by 4.1 percent.

Crude oil prices tumbled again on Monday, extending the nosedive seen over the two previous sessions over tariff concerns. After plummeting nearly $10 a barrel last Thursday and Friday, West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery dropped $1.29 or 2.1 percent to $60.70 a barrel.