Japanese Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is notably higher on Tuesday, recouping some of the losses in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 27,600 level, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, driven by gains in technology and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 139.55 points or 0.51 percent at 27,566.87, after touching a high of 27,721.82 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly lower on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is flat and Toyota is also edging up 0.5 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining more than 1 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding more than 2 percent and Screen Holdings is up almost 1 percent.

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

The major exporters are mostly higher. Canon is gaining almost 1 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric and Sony are adding almost 1 percent each. Panasonic is edging down 0.5 percent. Among the other major gainers, Mitsui E&S Holdings is surging almost 6 percent, Tokai Carbon is gaining almost 5 percent and Sumco is adding almost 3 percent.

Conversely, Japan Steel Works is plunging more than 6 percent and Recruit Holdings is declining more than 5 percent.

In economic news, Japan's gross domestic product expanded a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2022, the Cabinet Office said on Tuesday. That was shy of expectations for an increase of 0.6 percent following the downwardly revised 0.3 percent contraction in the third quarter (originally -0.2 percent).

On an annualized basis, GDP added 0.6 percent - again missing forecasts for an increase of 2.0 percent following the downwardly revised 1.0 percent decline in the three months prior (originally -0.8 percent).

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 131 yen-range on Tuesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks showed a strong move to the upside during trading on Monday following the mixed performance seen in the previous sessions. The strength on Wall Street came as some traders looked to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following the weakness seen last week.

The Dow jumped 376.66 points or 1.1 percent to 34,245.93, the Nasdaq surged 173.67 points or 1.5 percent to 11,891.79 and the S&P 500 shot up 46.83 points or 1.1 percent to 4,137.29.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.8 percent and the German DAX Index rose by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices slumped on Monday afternoon, unable to held early gains. West Texas Intermediate was down $0.43 or 0.54 percent to $79.29 per barrel, coming off a high of $80.62 earlier in the day.