Japanese Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is significantly higher on Tuesday, adding the gains in the previous two sessions, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 39,800 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in index heavyweights, exporters and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 281.74 points or 0.71 percent at 39,815.06, after touching a high of 39,866.72 earlier. Japanese shares ended slightly higher on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding almost 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining 1.5 percent and Toyota is adding more than 3 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 2 percent, Screen Holdings is declining almost 3 percent and Tokyo Electron is slipping almost 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding almost 2 percent.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Panasonic is gaining almost 3 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.1 percent and Canon is adding almost 2 percent, while Sony is edging down 0.4 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Renesas Electronics is soaring almost 10 percent, Furukawa Electric is surging almost 8 percent and Recruit Holdings is advancing more than 5 percent, while Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan Motor, Suzuki Motor and Bridgestone are gaining almost 5 percent each. Tokyo Tatemono, Rakuten Group and TDK are adding more than 4 percent each, while Nissan Chemical, Isuzu Motors and Japan Steel Works are up almost 4 percent each.

Conversely, Dowa Holdings is plunging almost 7 percent, DeNA is losing more than 5 percent, Chiba Bank and Lasertec are declining almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, the M2 money stock was up 1.2 percent on year in October, the Bank of Japan said on Tuesday - coming in at 1,249.8 trillion yen. That was shy of expectations for an increase of 1.5 percent but was unchanged from the September reading following a downward revision from 1.3 percent. The M3 money stock was up an annual 0.7 percent for the second straight month, while the L money stock increased 3.2 percent on year for the third straight month.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 153 yen-range on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks closed on a firm note on Monday, lifting the Dow and the S&P 500 to new record highs, even as the Nasdaq settled flat with technology stocks turning in a subdued performance.

The Dow settled at 44,293.13, up 304.14 points or 0.69 percent from previous close, the S&P 500 closed up 5.81 points or 0.1 percent at 6,001.35 and the Nasdaq eked out a small gain of 11.99 points or 0.06 percent, settling at 19,298.76.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.65 percent, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 ended higher by 1.21 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively,

Crude oil closed sharply lower on Monday, weighed down by a stronger dollar and concerns about demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended down $2.34 or 3.6 percent at $68.04 a barrel.