Japanese Market Is Sharply Higher

Extending from the gains in the previous three sessions, the Japanese stock market is sharply higher in post-holiday trade on Tuesday, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 40,200 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains across all the sectors led by index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 618.78 points or 1.56 percent at 40,224.58, after touching a high of 40,257.34 earlier. Japanese shares ended notably higher on Friday ahead of the holiday on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 6 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.4 percent and Toyota is edging up 0.5 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining more than 3 percent, Screen Holdings is advancing almost 6 percent and Tokyo Electron is adding more than 4 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are gaining more than 2 percent each.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Canon is adding almost 2 percent, while Sony and Mitsubishi Electric are gaining almost 1 percent each. Panasonic is losing almost 1 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Socionext is surging almost 6 percent and Chugai Pharmaceutical is adding more than 5 percent, while Lasertec and Isetan Mitsukoshi are advancing almost 5 percent each. Tokio Marine is gaining more than 4 percent each, while Renesas Electronics and Mercari are up almost 4 percent each. Taiyo Yuden, Ebara and Recruit Holdings are rising more than 3 percent each, while Concordia Financial and Rakuten Group are up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, ENEOS Holdings and Inpex are losing almost 3 percent each.

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

On Wall Street, stocks saw further upside during trading on Monday following the strong upward move seen during last Friday’s session. The major averages all moved higher on the day, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching new record closing highs.

The major averages reached new highs for the session late in the day before giving back some ground going into the close. The Dow rose 201.36 points or 0.5 percent to 43,065.22, the Nasdaq jumped 159.75 points or 0.9 percent to 18,502.69 and the S&P 500 climbed 44.82 points or 0.8 percent to 5,859.85.

The major European markets all also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index advanced by 0.7 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.5 percent and the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Monday, weighed down by another downward revision in demand forecast by OPEC, and concerns about demand from China. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended down $1.73 or about 2.29 percent at $73.83 a barrel.

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