Japanese Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is sharply higher on Monday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 31,900 level to fresh 33-year highs, following the broadly positive cues from global markets on Friday, with gains across all sectors, led by market heavy weights.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 413.87 or 1.31 percent at 31,938.09, after touching a high of 30,993.38 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Friday.

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

In the tech space, Screen Holdings and Advantest are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is edging down 0.2 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are gaining more than 1 percent each.

The major exporters are higher. Canon is gaining almost 1 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is adding more than 2 percent and Sony is advancing almost 2 percent. Panasonic is up more than 4 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Hitachi Construction Machinery is surging more than 6 percent, while JGC Holdings and Komatsu are advancing almost 6 percent. Resonac Holdings and Kawasaki Heavy Industries are gaining more than 5 percent each, while IHI is up almost 5 percent. Sharp is adding more than 4 percent. Tokai Carbon, Toto, JFE Holdings, Kobe Steel, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Toray Industries are rising almost 4 percent, while Mazda Motor is adding more than 3 percent.

Conversely, there are no major losers.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 140 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading day on Friday, adding to the strong gains posted in Thursday's session. With the continued upward move, the Nasdaq reached its best closing level in well over a year, while the S&P 500 set a new nine-month closing high.

The major averages pulled back off their best levels going into the close but still posted strong gains. The Dow spiked 701.19 points or 2.1 percent to 33,762.76, the Nasdaq jumped 139.78 points or 1.1 percent to 13,240.77 and the S&P 500 surged 61.35 points or 1.5 percent to 4,282.37.

The major European markets have also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index spiked by 1.9 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index surged by 1.6 percent and the German DAX Index jumped by 1.3 percent.

Crude oil prices rallied on Friday, extending gains from the previous session following the passage of the debt ceiling bill and amid speculation OPEC may announce a cut in production. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $1.64 or 2.3 percent at $71.74 a barrel.