Japanese Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading slightly higher on Tuesday after opening in the red, reversing some of the sharp losses in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving well above the 52,900 level, with gains in financial and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in exporters and automaker stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 48.62 points or 0.09 percent at 52,933.87, after hitting a low of 52,637.66 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.1 percent and Toyota is also edging down 0.5 percent.

In the tech space, Tokyo Electron is gaining almost 1 percent and Advantest is adding more than 2 percent, while Screen Holdings is edging down 0.4 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining almost 1 percent, while Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each.

The major exporters are mostly lower. Panasonic and Canon are edging down 0.1 to 0.5 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is declining almost 2 percent and Sony is losing more than 1 percent. Among the other major gainers, Yaskawa Electric is surging almost 5 percent, while Nissui, Furukawa Electric and SMC are gaining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Otsuka Holdings is losing more than 4 percent and Nitto Denko is declining more than 3 percent, while Japan Steel Works, Daiichi Sankyo and Nitori Holdings are down almost 3 percent each.

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

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Monday following the mixed performance seen during last Friday's session. With the upward move, the major averages further offset the steep drop seen last Tuesday.

The major averages moved to the downside going into the end of the day but remained in positive territory. The Dow advanced 313.69 points or 0.6 percent to 49,412.40, the Nasdaq rose 100.11 points or 0.4 percent to 23,601.36 and the S&P 500 climbed 34.62 points or 0.5 percent to 6,950.23.

Meanwhile, the major European markets also ended the day narrowly mixed. While the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.2 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both crept up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices slid on Monday following the resumption of production in Kazakhstan, although geopolitical tensions in the Middle East limited the decline. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was down by $0.42 or 0.69 percent at $60.65 per barrel.