Japanese Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - Adding to the gains in the previous two sessions, the Japanese stock market is sharply higher in post-holiday trade on Tuesday, with the Nikkei 225 adding almost 900 points to move above the 37,700 level to fresh 34-year highs, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights, exporters and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 858.32 points or 2.33 percent at 37,755.74, after touching a high of 37,760.08 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Monday ahead of a holiday on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is surging more than 7 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.2 percent and Toyota is gaining more than 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 1 percent, Screen Holdings is advancing almost 3 percent and Tokyo Electron is soaring more than 10 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining more than 1 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are adding 1.5 percent.

The major exporters are weak. Panasonic is gaining more than 2 percent, Canon is adding almost 2 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is advancing almost 3 percent and Sony is up more than 3 percent.

Among the other major gainers, MS&AD Insurance Group is skyrocketing almost 11 percent, while Tokio Marine and Dai Nippon Printing are soaring almost 10 percent each. IHI and Recruit Holdings are surging more than 8 percent each, while Dowa Holdings is gaining almost 8 percent. Sompo Holdings is gaining more than 7 percent, Fujikura is adding almost 7 percent, Subaru is advancing almost 6 percent and T&D Holdings is up almost 5 percent, while Sharp, Yamaha and Kawasaki Heavy Industries are rising almost 4 percent each.

Conversely, JGC Holdings is plummeting almost 19 percent, Nippon Paper Industries is plunging almost 14 percent, Mazda Motor is sliding more than 8 percent, Otsuka Holdings is slipping almost 7 percent, DeNA is losing more than 6 percent and Sumitomo Realty & Development is declining more than 4 percent, while Olympus and Kobe Steel are down almost 4 percent each. Mitsubishi Materials is slipping more than 3 percent, while Oji Holdings and Sumco are falling almost 3 percent each.

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

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session, with the major averages bouncing back and forth across the unchanged before eventually closing narrowly mixed. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 had been poised to set new record closing highs but pulled back into negative territory in afternoon trading.

While the Nasdaq fell 48.12 points or 0.3 percent to 15,942.55 and the S&P 500 edged down 4.77 points or 0.1 percent to 5,021.84, the Dow rose 125.69 points or 0.3 percent to a record closing high of 38,797.38.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.7 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just above the unchanged line.

Crude oil futures settled roughly flat on Monday as demand concerns outweighed potential supply disruptions. The dollar's recovery from lower levels also weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March settled at $76.92 a barrel, up $0.08 from the previous close.