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 26,800 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, boosted by exporters, energy and technology stocks. Traders also continue to pick up stocks at a bargain after the recent sell-off. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 335.69 points or 1.27 percent at 26,827.66, after touching a high of 26,840.66 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining 1.5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.4 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.4 percent and Toyota is flat.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 3 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding more than 2 percent and Screen Holdings is up almost 2 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.4 percent, while Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging up 0.2 percent each.

The major exporters are higher, with Sony is gaining more than 2 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric, Canon and Panasonic are adding almost 1 percent each. Among the other major gainers, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is gaining more than 6 percent and Tokyo Electric Power is adding almost 6 percent, while Shin-Etsu Chemical, CyberAgent and Otsuka Holdings are up more than 4 percent. Fanuc is rising almost 4 percent, while Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Nippon Yusen K.K., IHI, Mitsui Chemicals, Fuji Electric, Chubu Electric Power, Toyota Tsusho and Showa Denko K.K. are advancing more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, KDDI is losing almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 134 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher during trading on Friday, extending the strong upward move seen going into the close of trading on Thursday. The major averages all showed substantial upward moves over the course of the session.

The major averages saw further upside in late-day trading, ending the session at their best levels of the day. The Dow jumped 823.32 points or 2.7 percent to 31,500.68, the Nasdaq surged 375.43 points or 3.3 percent to 11,607.62 and the S&P 500 shot up 116.01 points or 3.1 percent to 3,911.74.

The major European markets also showed significant moves to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index spiked by 3.2 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index surged by 2.7 percent and the German DAX Index jumped by 1.6 percent.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Friday on optimism for continued high demand for energy and tight supply. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $3.35 or 3.2 percent at $107.62 a barrel. WTI futures shed 1.8 percent in the week.