FX.co ★ Japanese Market Sharply Higher; Up 2.5%

Post-holiday trading on Tuesday saw the Japanese stock market significantly higher, building on gains from the previous session. The Nikkei 225 index surged over 2.5%, surpassing the 35,900 mark, aided by a mixed performance on Wall Street overnight, with substantial gains across various sectors, particularly in index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The Nikkei 225 benchmark increased by 897.03 points, or 2.56%, to 35,922.03, after peaking at 36,025.92 earlier in the session. This follows a notably higher close for Japanese stocks on the preceding Friday, prior to the Monday holiday.

Key market players, such as SoftBank Group, rose by over 4%, and Fast Retailing (Uniqlo operator) saw an increase of almost 1%. In the automotive sector, Honda advanced close to 2%, and Toyota gained over 3%.

In the technology sector, Advantest and Tokyo Electron both surged nearly 6%, with Screen Holdings also rising over 6%.

The banking sector showed positive movements with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial increasing by over 1%, and Mizuho Financial advancing almost 4%, although Sumitomo Mitsui Financial remained unchanged.

Among the major exporters, Panasonic edged down by 0.2%, whereas Sony gained more than 5%, Mitsubishi Electric rose over 4%, and Canon was up by almost 1%.

Significant gainers included Rakuten Group, which skyrocketed by over 9%, and Trend Micro, soaring by more than 8%. Ebara and Sompo Holdings surged more than 7% each, while Keyence, Tokio Marine, and Odakyu Electric Railway gained almost 7% each. Nitto Denko, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, TDK, and IHI added over 6% each, with Socionext and Kawasaki Heavy Industries advancing nearly 6% each.

Conversely, Sharp plunged by over 6%, while Yamato Holdings and Meiji Holdings fell more than 4% each, and Nippon Express decreased by almost 4%.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar was trading in the lower 147 yen range on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated throughout Monday's session, eventually closing the day with little change. The major averages oscillated across the unchanged line, resulting in a narrowly mixed finish.

The Dow dipped by 140.53 points, or 0.4%, closing at 39,357.01. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 edged up by 0.23 points, less than a tenth of a percent, to 5,344.39, and the Nasdaq rose by 35.31 points, or 0.2%, to 16,780.61.

European markets also displayed mixed outcomes. The French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.3%, the German DAX Index marginally closed above the unchanged line, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.5%.

Crude oil prices surged on Monday as potential supply disruptions due to growing Middle East tensions outweighed concerns from OPEC's monthly report, which lowered the demand forecast for 2024. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended up $3.22, or about 4.2%, at $80.06 a barrel.