Japanese Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading sharply higher on Tuesday, reversing some of the sharp losses in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling well below the 52,250 level, with gains across most sectors led by exporters and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 708.79 points or 1.38 percent at 52,224.28, after touching a high of 52,701.99 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.2 percent and Toyota is gaining almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Tokyo Electron is adding almost 1 percent, Advantest is edging up 0.1 percent and Screen Holdings is gaining more than 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding more than 1 percent, Mizuho Financial is advancing more than 3 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining more than 2 percent.

The major exporters are higher. Mitsubishi Electric and Canon are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Panasonic is advancing almost 3 percent and Sony is edging up 0.1 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Ibiden and Sumitomo Metal Mining are jumping more than 6 percent each, while Sumitomo Pharma and Fujikura are surging almost 6 percent. Mitsubishi Materials, Astellas Pharma, JTEKT, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Mitsubishi Chemical and Komatsu are advancing almost 5 percent each, while OKUMA, Idemitsu Kosan, Sumitomo Chemical, Hoya and Renesas Electronics are gaining more than 4 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In economic news, consumer prices in Japan were down a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent on month in February, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Tuesday. That was in line with expectations and unchanged from the January reading.

On a yearly basis, consumer prices climbed 1.3 percent - beneath expectations for 1.4 percent and down from 1.5 percent in the previous month. Core CPI rose an annual 1.6 percent - beneath forecasts for 1.7 percent and down from 2.0 percent a month earlier.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 158-yen range on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks gave back some ground over the course of the trading day on Monday after moving sharply higher early in the session, but continued to turn in a strong performance. The major averages all rebounded after ending last Friday's trading at their lowest levels in several months.

The major averages ended the day well off their highs of the session but still posted notable gains. The Dow surged 631.00 points or 1.4 percent to 46,208.47, the Nasdaq jumped 299.15 points or 1.4 percent to 21,946.76 and the S&P 500 shot up 74.52 points or 1.2 percent to 6,581.00.

The major European markets all also showed significant moves to the upside on the day. The German DAX Index jumped by 1.2 percent and the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.8 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the uptrend and dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices plummeted on Monday after Trump's announcement that he ordered the U.S. forces to pause any planned attacks against Iran's power plants and energy infrastructure. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was down $10.21 or 10.39 percent at $88.02 per barrel.