Japanese Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - Recouping the losses in the previous two sessions, the Japanese stock market is significantly higher in post-holiday trading on Tuesday, with the Nikkei 225 moving well above the 38,600 level, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, with gains across most sectors led by Index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 446.84 points or 1.17 percent at 38,682.91, after touching a high of 38,863.14 earlier. Japanese shares ended slightly lower on Thursday prior to the holidays on Friday and Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is advancing more than 3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing almost 1 percent and Toyota is edging down 0.1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 2 percent, Tokyo Electron is advancing almost 4 percent and Screen Holdings is adding more than 4 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging up 0.2 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each.

The major exporters are mixed. Panasonic is losing almost 1 percent and Sony is declining more than 3 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 1 percent and Canon is adding more than 1 percent. Among the other major gainers, Fujikura and Disco are surging more than 5 percent each, while Rakuten Group, Nomura Holdings and ZOZO are gaining almost 5 percent each. Fuji Electric, CyberAgent, Lasertec, NEXON and Isetan Mitsukoshi are adding almost 4 percent each. TDK and Minebea Mitsumi are advancing more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, Mitsubishi, Daiichi Sankyo and Sumitomo Pharma are losing more than 3 percent each.

In economic news, the services sector in Japan continued to expand in April, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed on Tuesday with a services PMI score of 54.3. That's up from 54.1 in March, and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 154 yen-range on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a strong move to the upside during trading on Monday, extending the rally seen to close out the previous week. With the continued advance, the major averages reached their best closing levels in almost a month.

The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new highs for the session going into the close of trading, The Nasdaq surged 192.92 points or 1.2 percent to 16,349.25, the S&P 500 jumped 52.95 points or 1.0 percent to 5,180.74 and the Dow climbed 176.59 points or 0.5 percent to 38,862.27.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index jumped by 1.0 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both rose by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices settled modestly higher on Monday following Saudi Arabia's decision to hike its selling price for the European and Asian markets. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.37 or 0.47 percent at $78.48 a barrel.