Japanese Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading sharply higher on Monday after opening in the red, reversing the slight losses in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 54,100 level, with gains across most sectors led by automakers and exporter stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 797.12 points or 1.49 percent at 54,119.97, after touching a high of 54,197.63 earlier. Japanese shares ended slightly lower on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.4 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining almost 2 percent and Toyota is advancing almost 3 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is advancing almost 2 percent and Screen Holdings is surging almost 6 percent, while Tokyo Electron is edging down 0.2 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding almost 1 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining 1.5 percent and Mizuho Financial is advancing almost 2 percent.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Mitsubishi Electric and Canon are advancing almost 3 percent each, while Sony is edging up 0.3 percent and Panasonic is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Ebara, Fujikura and Takashimaya are surging more than 5 percent each, while TDK, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Hoya, Toto and Sumitomo Electric Industries are advancing more than 4 percent each. Aeon, Hino Motors, Isetan Mitsukoshi, Komatsu, Daiichi Sankyo and Subaru are gaining almost 4 percent each.

Conversely, Lasertec and Sumitomo Metal Mining are tumbling more than 8 percent each, while ZOZO and Kyowa Kirin are slipping almost 7 percent each. Dowa Holdings is declining more than 4 percent and Konami Group is down more than 4 percent, while Nomura Holdings, Mitsubishi Materials and Tokuyama are losing almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Japan bounced up into expansion territory in January, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Monday with a manufacturing PMI score of 51.5. That's up from 50.0 in December, which marked stagnation as being right non the line that separates expansion from contraction.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 155 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Friday but maintained a negative bias throughout the day before eventually closing mostly lower. After recovering from an early sell-off to end Thursday's session mixed, the major averages all finished the day firmly in negative territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the way lower, slumping 223.30 points or 0.9 percent to 23,461.82, while the Dow slid 179.09 points or 0.4 percent to 48,892.47 and the S&P 500 fell 29.98 points or 0.4 percent to 6,939.03.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index advanced by 0.9 percent, the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices slid on Friday as the U.S. dollar index moved higher, while the possibility of diplomatic intervention in the U.S.-Iran conflict also weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was down $0.22 or 0.34 percent at $65.20 per barrel.