Japanese Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading slightly higher on Monday, recouping some of the losses in the previous three sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The Nikkei 225 is moving above the 37,700 level, with gains is index heavyweights partially offset by weakness in financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 46.76 points or 0.12 percent at 37,723.82, after touching a high of 37,841.68 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.5 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.3 percent and Toyota is also edging up 0.5 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 1 percent, while Screen Holdings is declining more than 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is edging down 0.5 percent.

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

The major exporters are mostly lower. Panasonic is losing more than 1 percent, while Sony and Canon are edging down 0.3 percent each. Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.5 percent.

Among the other major gainers, DeNA is gaining more than 5 percent and CyberAgent is adding almost 3 percent.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 149 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a significant recovery over the course of the trading day on Friday after moving sharply lower early in the session. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day and into positive territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq saw a notable advance going into the close, ending the day up 92.43 points or 0.5 percent at 17,784.05 after tumbling by as much as 1.2 percent in early trading. The Dow and the S&P 500 posted more modest gains. The Dow inched up 32.03 points or 0.1 percent to 41,985.35 and the S&P 500 crept up 4.67 points or 0.1 percent to 5,667.56.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index fell by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both slid by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices bounced higher on Friday on geopolitical tensions after new U.S. sanctions against a Chinese refinery that purchased Iranian oil. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery climbed $0.23 or 0.3 percent to $68.30 a barrel.