Japanese Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading notably higher on Tuesday, snapping a three-session losing streak, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 35,800 level, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights and exporter stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 211.10 points or 0.59 percent at 35,828.66, after touching a high of 36,052.54 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Monday.

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

In the tech space, Advantest is slipping almost 3 percent and Tokyo Electron is edging down 0.5 percent, while Screen Holdings is edging up 0.4 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is gaining more than 1 percent.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Canon is adding more than 1 percent, Sony is gaining almost 2 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is up almost 1 percent, while Panasonic is edging down 0.3 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Nomura Research Institute is soaring 11.5 percent and Chubu Electric Power is surging almost 6 percent, while Daiichi Sankyo and NEC are gaining more than 3 percent each. Nintendo, Mitsui Fudosan, Toppan Holdings and NTT Data are adding almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In economic news, large manufacturing in Japan slowed slightly in the first quarter of 2025, the Bank of Japan's quarterly Tankan Survey of business sentiment showed on Tuesday with a diffusion index score of +12. That was in line with forecasts and was down from +14 in the previous three months. The outlook also came in at +12, easing from +13 in the previous quarter.

The large non-manufacturers index came in at +35, beating forecasts for +33 - which would have been unchanged. The outlook was unchanged at +28. The small manufacturing index was at +2, while the small non-manufacturing index was at +9.

Large industry capex is seen higher by 3.1 percent, in line with forecasts and slowing from 11.3 percent in Q4. Small industry capex was down 10.0 percent after rising 4.0 percent in the three months prior.

Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector in Japan continued to contract in March, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed on Tuesday with a manufacturing PMI score of 48.4. That's down from 49.0 in February and it moves further beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

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

On Wall Street, stocks showed a significant rebound over the course of the trading day on Monday after moving sharply lower early in the session. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day to close mixed.

The Dow jumped 417.86 points or 1 percent to 42,001.76 and the S&P 500 climbed 30.91 points or 0.6 percent to 5,611.85, while the Nasdaq bounced well off its lows but still ended the day down 23.70 points or 0.1 percent at 17,299.29.

Meanwhile, the major European markets showed significant moves to the downside. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 1.0 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index are down by 1.6 percent.

Crude oil prices ticked higher on Monday on concerns that supply may not be able to keep up with demand. West Texas Intermediate for May delivery was up $0.17 or 0.25 percent to $69.53 per barrel.