Japanese Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading sharply higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 37,900 level, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights, financial and technology stocks. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 516.48 points or 1.38 percent at 37,913.00, after touching a high of 37,969.92 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly higher on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding 1.5 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 2 percent and Toyota is adding almost 3 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining more than 2 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding more than 1 percent and Screen Holdings is advancing almost 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining more than 2 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding almost 2 percent and Mizuho Financial is up almost 1 percent.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Panasonic is gaining more than 2 percent, Canon is edging up 0.1 percent and Sony is adding more than 1 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is down almost 1 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Yaskawa Electric and Tokio Marine are gaining almost 5 percent each, while Mitsui & Co., Mitsubishi and Marubeni are adding more than 4 percent each. Renesas Electronics, Socionext, Tokyo Electric Power, CyberAgent, Itochu, Sumitomo, Sumitomo Metal Mining and Toyota Tsusho are all advancing almost 4 percent each. Mitsui Fudosan and M3 are up more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, Tokyo Electric Power is losing more than 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 149 yen-range on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks continued to regain ground during trading on Monday after rebounding last Friday but still posting steep weekly losses. The major averages all moved to the upside over the course of the session.

The major averages pulled back well off their highs going into the end of trading but remained in positive territory. The Dow jumped 353.44 points or 0.9 percent to 41,841.63, the S&P 500 climbed 36.18 points or 0.6 percent to 5,675.12 and the Nasdaq rose 54.58 points or 0.3 percent to 17,808.66.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index increased by 0.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both rose by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices rose on Monday on hopes of improved demand from China after plans to boost consumer spending, and on possible supply disruptions due to the tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April closed higher by $0.40 or 0.6 percent at $67.58 a barrel.