The Japanese stock market is advancing on Monday, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index touching fresh 15-year highs, tracking the gains on Wall Street Friday and news that Greece reached a deal with eurozone creditors to extend its bailout agreement for four months.
In late-morning trades, the Nikkei 225 Index is adding 164.87 points or 0.90 percent to 18,497.17, down from a high of 18,509.08 in early trades, the highest intraday level since May 2000.
Among the other major exporters, Casio Computer is up 4.2 percent, Nikon Corp. is adding almost 2 percent, Konica Minolta is higher by 1.4 percent and TDK Corp is gaining 1.5 percent. Canon (CAJ) is adding 0.7 percent, Sony Corp. (SNE) is edging up 0.09 percent and Sharp Corp is advancing 0.4 percent.
In the auto space, Toyota (TM) is up more than 1 percent, Suzuki is higher by 1.7 percent and Nissan is gaining 1.6 percent, while Honda (HMC) is lower by 0.4 percent.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MTU) is up 0.4 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is up 0.6 percent and Mizuho Financial (MFG) is advancing 1.2 percent each.
Shares of Japanese airbag manufacturer Takata are lower by 2.6 percent. U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx on Friday announced a $14,000 per day fine against Takata for failing to fully cooperate with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or NHTSA's ongoing probe into the company's defective airbags.
Shares of Tokyo Electric Power are down 0.2 percent after the company reportedly detected a fresh leak of highly radioactive water at its defunct Fukshima nuclear plant.
Among the other major gainers, Sumco Corp is rising almost 5 percent, JFE Holdings is advancing 4 percent, NSK Ltd is gaining 1.6 percent and Alps Electric is higher by 1.5 percent. Aeon Co. is lower by 0.5 percent.
On the economic front, minutes from the Bank of Japan's policy meeting on January 20 and 21 revealed on Monday that members of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy committee remain satisfied with the pace of the country's economic recovery.
The members did concede that they were likely to miss their desired inflation target of 2 percent following years of deflation - due mainly to tumbling energy prices. They also noted that capital spending was on the upswing as corporate profits continued to grow. At the meeting, the BoJ kept its monetary policy unchanged and lowered its near-term inflation forecast.
Later in the day, Japan also will see supermarket sales numbers for January.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 119 yen-range on Monday. In late-morning trades, the dollar was quoted in a range of 119.08-119.09 yen, up from Friday's close of 118.82-118.84 yen in Tokyo.
On Wall Street, after coming under pressure in early trading on Friday, stocks showed a substantial turnaround following the news that Greece reached a deal with eurozone creditors to extend its bailout agreement for four months.
The Dow jumped 154.67 points or 0.9 percent to 18,140.44, the Nasdaq climbed 31.27 points or 0.6 percent to 4,955.97 and the S&P 500 rose 12.85 points or 0.6 percent to 2,110.30.
The major European markets ended Friday mixed. While the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both rose by 0.4 percent.
U.S. crude oil ended sharply lower for a third straight session on Friday, on continued concerns of a supply glut, after data from the Energy Information Administration yesterday showed crude stockpiles in the U.S. to have surged more than expected last week to a record high.
Crude oil futures for March delivery, the most actively traded contract, dropped $0.82 or 1.6 percent to settle at $50.34 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday. The March contract expired today.
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Market Analysis
December 26, 2025 08:42 ET Third quarter economic growth data from some major economies including the U.S. were the main news in this holiday shortened week. GDP growth and industrial production data from the U.S. helped to boost morale, while the consumer confidence survey results were less upbeat. In Europe, the quarterly economic growth data from the U.K. drew attention, while the minutes of the Australian central bank’s latest policy session was in focus in Asia.