Japanese Market Significantly Higher

The Japanese stock market is significantly higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 26,300 level, following the positive cues from European markets overnight, boosted by financial and technology stocks. Traders also indulged in bargain hunting after the recent three-session slide.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 224.21 points or 0.86 percent at 26,378.02, after touching a high of 26,532.51 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding 2.5 percent. Among automakers, Honda is relatively flat and Toyota is adding almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Screen Holdings is edging up 0.2 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging up 0.4 percent.

The major exporters are mixed, with Mitsubishi Electric and Panasonic edging down 0.3 percent each, while Canon is gaining almost 1 percent. Sony is flat.

Among the other major gainers, Pacific Metals is surging more than 5 percent, M3 is gaining almost 4 percent, Trend Micro is adding more than 3 percent and Tokio Marine Holdings is up almost 3 percent.

Conversely, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is losing more than 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 136 yen-range on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, the markets were off on Monday for the Independence Day holiday and will return to action on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 surged 0.89 percent and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.4 percent, while Germany’s DAX slid 0.31 percent.

Crude oil futures fell in volatile trade on Monday as supply constraints amid lower OPEC output and the conflict in Ukraine were offset by worries that aggressive rate hikes by central banks would trigger a global recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended lower by 0.6 percent at $107.75 a barrel.

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