Extending the gains the previous session, the Japanese stock market is sharply higher in post-holiday trading on Tuesday, with the Nikkei 225 moving a tad above the 33,900 level, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, with gains in index heavyweights and technology stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 525.40 points or 1.57 percent at 33,902.82, after touching a 33-year high of 33,990.28 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Friday ahead of the holiday on Monday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.4 percent, while Toyota is edging down 0.2 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is soaring more than 8 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding more than 4 percent and Screen Holdings is advancing almost 4 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are losing almost 1 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial edging up 0.1 percent.
The major exporters are mixed. Panasonic is losing almost 1 percent and Canon is edging down 0.2 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is adding almost 1 percent and Sony is advancing almost 2 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Omron and DeNA are surging almost 7 percent each, while Rakuten Group is gaining more than 5 percent. Hitachi is adding almost 4 percent, while Keyence, NEXON, Nintendo, SMC, Terumo, CyberAgent, Chugai Pharmaceutical and Konami Group are all advancing more than 3 percent each.
Conversely, there are no other major gainers.
In economic news, the average of household spending in Japan was down 2.9 percent on year in November, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Tuesday – coming in at 286,922 yen. That missed forecasts for a decline of 2.3 percent following the 2.5 percent drop in October. On a monthly basis, household spending fell 1.0 percent – again shy of expectations for an increase of 0.2 percent after easing 0.1 percent in the previous month. The average of monthly income per household stood at 494,181 yen, down 4.7 percent on year.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 143 yen-range on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, stocks ended on a buoyant note on Monday, with the Nasdaq outperforming the other major averages thanks to hectic buying in the technology sector. A drop in bond yields, and optimism about the outlook for stocks, despite recent uncertainty about the likelihood of near-term interest rate cuts, helped push stock prices up.
The major averages all ended with strong gains. The Dow ended up 216.90 points or 0.58 percent at 37,683.01, the S&P 500 climbed 66.30 points or 1.41 percent to 4,763.54, and the Nasdaq settled with a gain of 319.70 points or 2.2 percent at 14,843.77.
The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 edged up 0.06 percent, and Germany’s DAX climbed 0.74 percent, while France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.4 percent.
Crude oil fell sharply on Monday as Saudi Arabia’s decision to cut prices offset concerns about an escalation in the Middle East conflict. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for February ended down $3.04 or 4.4 percent at $70.77 a barrel.
Market Analysis
Japanese Market Sharply Higher
2024-01-09 02:13:13
