Japanese Market Sharply Lower

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading sharply lower on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving above the 53,650 level, with gains across most sectors led by exporters, financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 249.60 points or 0.47 percent at 53,663.28, after touching a high of 53,916.35 earlier. Japanese shares ended notably higher on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.5 percent and Toyota is also edging down 0.2 percent.

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

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining more than 1 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging up 0.4 percent and Mizuho Financial is adding almost 1 percent.

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

Among the other major gainers, SHIFT is advancing more than 4 percent, while ZOZO and Toto are gaining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, ARCHION is tumbling more than 6 percent, while Suzuki Motor and Disco are losing more than 4 percent each. Fujikura, Sumitomo Electric Industries and Mitsui Kinzoku are declining almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 159-yen range on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Monday but largely maintained a positive bias before ending the day mostly higher. With the upward move, the major averages added to the strong gains posted last week.

The major averages finished the day not far off their highs of the session. The Nasdaq advanced 117.16 points or 0.5 percent to 21,996.34, the S&P 500 climbed 29.14 points or 0.4 percent to 6,611.83 and the Dow rose 165.21 points or 0.4 percent to 46,669.88.

Meanwhile, the major European markets were closed on Monday in celebration of Easter Monday.

Crude oil prices surged on Monday as concerns of a deeper escalation in the Middle East rise, with Iran still reluctant to open the Strait of Hormuz despite being served another ultimatum by the U.S. that expires tomorrow. WTI Crude Oil for May delivery was up by $1.39 or 1.25 percent at $112.93 per barrel.