Japanese Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading significantly higher on Monday, extending the gains in the previous three sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 35,900 level, with gains across most sectors led by automakers and financial stocks. Technology stocks are the only weak spot amid profit booking.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 203.92 points or 0.57 percent at 35,909.66, after touching a high of 36,075.26 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.3 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining almost 2 percent and Toyota is adding almost 4 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is slipping almost 5 percent, Tokyo Electron is edging down 0.2 percent and Screen Holdings is declining almost 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is up more than 1 percent.

The major exporters are higher. Panasonic is gaining more than 2 percent, Canon is adding almost 2 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.1 percent, while Sony is edging down 0.2 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Shin-Etsu Chemical is soaring more than 8 percent and Hitachi Construction Machinery is gaining almost 5 percent, while Astellas Pharma and DeNA are adding more than 4 percent each. Toyota Tsusho is advancing almost 4 percent, while Oriental Land, Komatsu, Ryohin Keikaku and Nidec are rising more than 3 percent each. Keisei Electric Railway, M3, IHI, Chubu Electric Power and Shimizu are up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Nitto Denko is declining more than 6 percent and Fuji Electric is losing almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 143 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw considerable volatility over the course of the trading day on Friday after turning in a lackluster performance early in the session. The major averages showed wild swings as the day progressed before eventually closing in positive territory.

The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 ended the day firmly positive, closing higher for the fourth straight session. The Nasdaq jumped 216.90 points or 1.3 percent to 17,382.94 and the S&P 500 climbed 40.44 points or 0.7 percent to 5,525.21, while the narrower Dow inched up 20.10 points or 0.1 percent to 40,113.50.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index advanced by 0.8 percent, the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.5 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices moved modestly higher on Friday amid signs of easing trade tensions between the U.S. and China. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery rose $0.23 or 0.4 percent to $63.02 a barrel. For the week, crude for June delivery tumbled $0.99 a barrel or 1.6 percent.