Japanese Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is significantly higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous three sessions, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 29,800 level to 18-month highs, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, with gains across most sectors, led by technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 222.08 points or 0.75 percent at 29,848.42, after touching a high of 29,890.59 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly higher on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining 1.5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is also up 1.5 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 1 percent, while Toyota is edging down 0.4 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are gaining 3.5 percent each, while Screen Holdings is adding 2.5 percent.

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

The major exporters are mixed. Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.2 percent and Panasonic is gaining almost 1 percent, while Sony is losing almost 1 percent. Canon is flat. Among the other major gainers, T&D Holdings and Kajima are gaining more than 4 percent each, while Recruit Holdings is adding almost 4 percent, Renesas Electronics is up more than 3 percent and Nippon Paper is advancing almost 3 percent.

Conversely, Konica Minolta is plummeting more than 11 percent and Dentsu Group plunging almost 8 percent, while Mitsui E&S and Sumitomo Pharma are losing almost 7 percent each. Resonac Holdings is down almost 6 percent, while Rakuten Group and Japan Post are declining more than 5 percent each. Suzuki Motor and Ebara are slipping more than 4 percent each, while Yamaha Motor and Dai-ichi Life are sliding more than 3 percent each. Sumitomo Chemical is down almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 136 yen-range on Tuesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance for much of the trading session on Monday but managed to end the day mostly higher. The tech-heavy Nasdaq reached its best closing level in well over eight months, while the Dow snapped a five-session losing streak.

The major averages all finished the day in positive territory. The Nasdaq climbed 80.47 points or 0.7 percent to 12,365.21, the S&P 500 rose 12.20 points or 0.3 percent to 4,136.28 and the Dow inched up 47.98 points or 0.1 percent to 33,348.60.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 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 climbed higher Monday, riding on prospects of lower supplies in Canada and elsewhere, while a weaker dollar also contributed to oil's uptick. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June gained $1.07 or 1.5 percent at $71.11 a barrel after three days of losses.