The Japanese stock market is trading sharply higher on Monday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive from Wall Street on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 surging 2.7 percent to above the 65,050 level, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights, automakers and technology stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 1,720.36 points or 2.72 percent at 65,059.43, after touching a high of 65,254.00 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Friday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining almost 2 percent and Toyota is advancing almost 4 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is surging more than 5 percent, while Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron are advancing more than 3 percent each.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining almost 1 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging down 0.5 percent and Mizuho Financial is losing more than 1 percent.
The major exporters are mostly higher. Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 3 percent, Panasonic is up almost 1 percent, Sony is adding more than 1 percent and Canon is edging up 0.4 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Taiyo Yuden is skyrocketing more than 16 percent, while Murata Manufacturing and Lasertec are jumping more than 10 percent each. Ibiden is soaring almost 9 percent, while Taisei and Yokohama Rubber are surging almost 8 percent each. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Fujikura and Resonac Holdings are advancing more than 7 percent each. Sumco, Socionext and Renesas Electronics are advancing almost 7 percent each. Dowa Holdings, Mitsui Kinzoku and TDK are gaining more than 6 percent each.
Conversely, ARCHION is tumbling more than 8 percent, Rakuten Group is sliding more than 4 percent, and Pan Pacific International is slipping almost 4 percent, while Asahi Group, Toho and Aeon are declining more than 3 percent each. Terumo, CyberAgent, J. Front Retailing, LY and Kikkoman are losing almost 3 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 158 yen-range on Monday.
On Wall Street, stocks gave back some ground in the latter part of the trading day but still closed mostly higher after turning in a strong performance throughout much of the session on Friday. While the major averages pulled back well off their best levels of the day, the Dow still ended the session at a new record closing high.
The Dow advanced 294.04 points or 0.6 percent to 50,589.70, the S&P 500 climbed 27.75 points or 0.4 percent to 7,473.47 and the Nasdaq rose 50.87 points or 0.2 percent to 26,343.97.
The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index jumped by 1.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.2 percent.
Crude oil prices ticked higher on Friday as traders weighed concerns of an impending crude oil inventory shortage against the positive signals from U.S.-Iran peace talks. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was up $0.10 or 0.10 percent at $96.45 per barrel.
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Market Analysis
May 22, 2026 14:46 ET Minutes of the latest Fed policy session was the highlight of the week along with survey data on the U.S. housing market. In Europe, survey data signaled the trends in the euro area private sector. Further, consumer price inflation data from the U.K. was in focus. In Asia, various economic indicators from China drew attention to the health of the economy.