Japanese Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading sharply higher on Monday, reversing the losses in the previous session. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 39,500 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday, with gains across all sectors led by index heavyweights, exporters and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 656.74 or 1.73 percent at 39,570.66, after touching a high of 38,658.74 earlier. Japanese shares ended notably lower on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding 1.5 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining 3.5 percent and Toyota is adding almost 4 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is gaining almost 4 percent, Advantest is advancing almost 5 percent and Tokyo Electron is adding more than 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining almost 1 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Canon and Sony are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is adding 1.5 percent and Panasonic is advancing almost 2 percent.

Among other major gainers, Chugai Pharmaceutical is soaring almost 10 percent, Kikkoman is surging almost 6 percent and Konica Minolta is adding more than 5 percent, while Lasertec and Renesas Electronics are advancing almost 5 percent each. Disco is rising more than 4 percent, while Tokyo Electric Power and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha are up almost 4 percent each. Isetan Mitsukoshi, M3 and Mitsubishi Motors are gaining more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, Olympus is plunging almost 7 percent and IHI is losing 4.5 percent, while Shin-Etsu Chemical and Japan Steel Works are losing almost 4 percent each. Furukawa Electric is down 2.5 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 153 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in another mixed performance during trading on Friday after ending Thursday's session on opposite sides of the unchanged line. While the tech-heavy Nasdaq added to yesterday's strong gain, the Dow extended its losing streak to five sessions.

The Nasdaq ended the day up 103.12 points or 0.6 percent at 18,518.61, while the Dow slid 259.96 points or 0.6 percent to 42,114.40 and the S&P 500 edged down 1.74 points or less than tenth of a percent to 5,808.12.

The major European markets also ended the day narrowly mixed. While the German DAX Index crept up by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.3 percent

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Friday amid worries about geopolitical tensions and for potential output adjustments from OPEC. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December closed up $1.69 or 2.3 percent at $71.78 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 3.8 percent in the week.