Japanese Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading significantly higher on Monday, recouping some of the losses in the previous two sessions, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 moving well above the 38,100 level, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 304.25 points or 0.80 percent at 38,138.50, after touching a high of 38,194.88 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly lower on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is up almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 3 percent and Toyota is edging up 0.5 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is surging almost 6 percent, Screen Holdings is gaining almost 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.1 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are gaining almost 1 percent, while Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.1 percent.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Panasonic and Canon are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 1 percent. Sony is edging down 0.4 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Socionext and Mercari are gaining 3.5 percent each, while Toray Industries is adding more than 3 percent and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is adding almost 3 percent.

Conversely, NEXON and Sumitomo Pharma are declining almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 144 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks pulled back sharply during trading on Friday after moving modestly higher over the course of the previous session. The major averages all moved significantly lower, with the Dow and the S&P 500 pulling back well off yesterday's three-month closing highs.

The major averages staged a recovery attempt in late morning trading after an early slump but moved back to the downside as the day progressed. The Dow plummeted 769.83 points or 1.8 percent to 42,197.79, the Nasdaq plunged 255.66 points or 1.3 percent to 19,406.83 and the S&P 500 tumbled 68.29 points or 1.1 percent to 5,976.97.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index decreased by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index slumped by 1.0 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices jumped sharply on Friday due to fears of supply disruptions after Israel conducted airstrikes against Iran. Iran has vowed to retaliate heavily. WTI oil for July delivery shot up $4.94 to settle at $72.98 per barrel. This is the highest price for oil since February 11th. August Brent crude was last seen up by $4.72 at $74.08.