The Japanese stock market is sharply higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 staying just below the 27,300 level, despite the negative cues from Wall Street overnight, on news that the Japanese government has fully lifted its COVID-19 quasi-emergency measures that would be boost to the economy. However, traders remain cautious and continue to monitor developments surrounding the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 444.32 points or 1.66 percent at 27,271.75, after touching a high of 27,284.47 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly higher on Friday prior to an extended weekend with a holiday on Monday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing are gaining 1.5 percent each. Among automakers, Honda is rising 1.5 percent and Toyota is adding almost 1 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest and Screen Holdings are adding 1.5 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is gaining almost 2 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining almost 3 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is surging more than 5.5 percent and Mizuho Financial is gaining almost 2 percent.
The major exporters are mostly higher, with Panasonic gaining almost 1 percent, while Sony and Mitsubishi Electric are adding more than 1 percent each. Canon is edging down 0.2 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Inpex is soaring more than 10 percent, Mitsubishi is surging almost 7 percent and Tokio Marine is gaining more than 6 percent, while T&D Holdings, Dai-ichi Life and Resona Holdings are adding almost 6 percent each. Sumitomo and Mitsui & Co. are up more than 5 percent each, while Marubeni and Concordia Financial are advancing more than 4 percent. Idemitsu Kosan, Daikin Industries, Sojitz and Yamaha are rising almost 4 percent each.
Conversely, Pacific Metals is losing almost 3 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 119 yen-range on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading day on Monday but largely maintained a negative bias throughout the session. The major averages gave back ground following the strong upward move seen on Wall Street last week.
The major averages ended the session in negative territory but off their worst levels of the day. The Dow slid 201.94 points or 0.6 percent to 34,552.99, the Nasdaq fell 55.38 points or 0.4 percent to 13,838.46 and the S&P 500 edged down 1.94 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 4,61.18.
Meanwhile, the major European markets turned mixed on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.5 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both fell by 0.6 percent.
Crude oil prices hit a two-week high on Monday amid concerns over the ongoing invasion of Ukraine and on expectations the EU might impose a ban on Russian oil. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $7.42 or 7.1 percent at $112.12 a barrel.
Market Analysis
Japanese Market Sharply Higher
2022-03-22 02:25:48
