Japanese Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading sharply higher on Monday, reversing the sharp losses in the previous session, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 37,500 level, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights, automakers and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 380.32 points or 1.02 percent at 37,535.82, after touching a high of 37,720.36 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 1 percent and Toyota is adding almost 4 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Screen Holdings is flat.

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

The major exporters are mostly higher. Panasonic and Canon are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is adding 1.5 percent. Sony is losing almost 1 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Daiichi Sankyo is surging more than 5 percent, while Aeon and Toppan Holdings are gaining more than 4 percent each. Recruit Holdings, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kyocera, Tokio Marine, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Japan Steel Works are advancing almost 4 percent each. IHI is up more than 3 percent, while Shimizu and NEC are adding almost 3 percent.

Conversely, DeNA is plunging more than 7 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 150 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw substantial volatility during trading on Friday following the significant pullback seen over the course of the previous session. The major averages swung wildly back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing sharply higher.

The major averages showed strong moves to the upside going into the close, ending the session near their best levels of the day. The Nasdaq surged 302.86 points or 1.6 percent to 18,847.28, the S&P 500 shot up 92.93 points or 1.6 percent to 5,954.50 and the Dow jumped 601.41 points or 1.4 percent to 43,840.91.

The major European markets also moved to the upside over the course of the session. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index inched up by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index closed just above the unchanged line.

Crude oil prices settled lower on Friday as worries about growth and uncertainty about the outlook for oil demand weighed on the commodity's prices. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for April closed down $0.59 or about 0.84 percent at $69.76 a barrel.