Buoyed by a positive close on Wall Street overnight and the yen's decline against the greenback, the Japanese stock market is trading notably higher on Tuesday.
Automobile, financial, insurance, retail and non-ferrous metals stocks are mostly up with strong gains, while pharmaceuticals, food and oil stocks are trading mixed.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which opened with a strong positive gap, is currently up 114.1 points or 1.2 percent at 9,692.4. On Monday, the Nikkei ended lower by around 100 points or 1 percent at 9,578.3.
Credit Saison, up 4.3 percent, is the top gainer in the Nikkei index. Takashimaya, NKSJ HD, Yokohama Rubber, Mitsubishi Paper, Mitsui OSK Lines, J Front Retailing, Sumitomo Realty, Konami, T&D Holding, NTN Corp. and Marui Group are trading higher by 2 to 3.5 percent.
Trend Micro, West Japan Railway, Daiwa Securities Group, MS&AD Insurance, Fujitsu, Nippon Steel, Hitachi, Panasonic Corp., Olympus, Sony Corp and Nisshin Steel are also trading notably higher.
Among bank stocks, Chiba Bank, Mizuho Financial, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Bank of Yokohama are up 1 to 2 percent.
Among automobile stocks, Mitsubishi Motor, Suzuki Motor, Honda Motor, Toyota Motor, Isuzu Motor and Mazda Motor are trading higher, while Nissan Motor is trading modestly lower.
Shares of Tokyo Steel Manufacturing Co., are up more than 3 percent following a rating upgrade of the company by Goldman Sachs. Uny Co. shares are up sharply following the firm's group operating profit seeing a 60 percent surge in the March- May quarter.
Meanwhile, Taiyo Yuden, Sapporo Holdings, Taiheiyo Cement, Chugai Pharma, JFE Holdings, Nippon Sheet Glass and Showa Shell are trading weak.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the upper 80 yen level in early deals in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 80.75 to the U.S. dollar.
On the economic front, retail sales in Japan declined in May, according to data released Tuesday by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and industry. Overall retail sales in May were down 1.3 percent from one year earlier, the Ministry said.
A 24.4 percent decline in auto sales was largely responsible for the overall decline. Sales by large-scale retailers were down 2.4 percent on year.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Taiwan and South Korea are up with strong gains. Malaysia and Singapore are trading modestly higher, while Shanghai is up marginally. Markets across the region ended mostly lower on Monday.
On Wall Street, stocks moved higher on Monday, recovering from the sell-off that was seen in the previous session. Optimism about a potential resolution to the Greek debt crisis helped to generate buying interest.
The major averages pulled back off their highs for the session going into the close but remained firmly positive. The Dow advanced by 109 points or 0.9 percent to 12,043.6, the Nasdaq jumped 35.4 points or 1.3 percent to 2,688.3 and the S&P 500 ended up 11.6 points or 0.9 percent to 1,280.1.
Major European markets ended on a mixed note on Monday. While the German DAX index edged down by 0.2 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index and the French CAC 40 index gained 0.4 percent and 0.3 percent respectively.
Crude oil prices edged lower on Monday amid worries about the global economy. Light, sweet crude for August delivery ended down 55 cents or 0.6 percent at $90.61 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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