Japanese Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is notably higher on Monday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 28,100 level, following the positive cues from global markets on Friday, with gains in exporters and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 136.06 or 0.49 percent at 28,177.54, after touching a high of 27,258.91 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly higher on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding almost 3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 1 percent and Toyota is edging up 0.3 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is losing almost 2 percent, Advantest is declining more than 3 percent and Tokyo Electron is down more than 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding almost 1 percent.

The major exporters are higher. Mitsubishi Electric, Sony and Canon are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Panasonic is gaining more than 2 percent.

Among the other major gainers, JGC Holdings is surging more than 6 percent, Inpex is gaining almost 6 percent and Idemitsu Kosan is adding more than 4 percent, while Nippon Sheet Glass, M3 and ENEOS Holdings are up almost 4 percent each. UBE Corp., Z Holdings and Concordia Financial are rising more than 3 percent each, while Sumitomo Chemical, Yokogawa Electric, Olympus, Chiba Bank and Fukuoka Financial are all advancing almost 3 percent.

Conversely, Advantest is losing almost 3 percent.

In economic news, large manufacturing in Japan weakened in the first quarter of 2023, the Bank of Japan's quarterly Tankan Survey of business sentiment showed on Monday with a diffusion index score of +1. That missed forecasts for a reading of +3 and was down from +7 three months ago. The outlook came in at +3, missing expectations for +4 and down from +6 in the previous quarter.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the 133 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading session on Friday, adding to the gains posted on Wednesday and Thursday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a particularly strong upward move, reaching a six-month closing high.

The major averages saw further upside going into the close of trading, reaching new highs for the session. The Nasdaq surged 208.44 points or 1.7 percent to 12,221.91, the S&P 500 shot up 58.48 points or 1.4 percent to 4,109.31 and the Dow jumped 415.12 points or 1.3 percent at 33,274.15.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.8 percent, the German DAX Index climbed by 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged up by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday on falling supplies and optimism about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $1.30 or 1.8 percent at $75.67 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 9.2 percent in the week but dropped 1.8 percent in March and 6 percent in the first quarter.