The Japanese stock market opened on an upbeat note on Monday with investors thronging several front line counters amid renewed optimism about the global economy following the pro-austerity New Democracy party winning Sunday's parliamentary election in Greece.
Machinery, banking, automobile, non-ferrous metals, pharmaceuticals, retail and construction stocks are mostly trading with strong gains.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which rose to 8,767 following a rousing start, is currently trading at 8,721.7, up 152.4 points or 1. percent from its previous close.
Among Nikkei stocks, only Kansai Electric Power, Tokyo Electric Power, Odakyu Electric Railway, Keisei Electric Railway, Shizuoka Bank and NTT DoCoMo are trading in negative territory.
Ebara Corp, Mazda Motor, Pioneer Corp, Nippon Electric Glass, Furukawa Electric, Mitsumi Electric, Sony Corp, Resona Holdings, Sumitomo Chemical, JFE Holdings, Dai-ichi Life Insurance and Konica Minolta are up 4 to 6.5 percent.
Sumitomo Metal Industries, Japan Steel Works, Toho Zinc, Yokohama Rubber, Panasonic Corp, Sumitomo Metal Mining, Shinsei Bank, Fujifilm Holding, Pacific Metals, Nissan Motor and Inpex are all trading higher by over 3 percent.
Hino Motors, Sharp Corp, Credit Saison, Showa Shell, Suzuki Motor, GS Yuasa, Nomura Holdings, Advantest Corp and Dowa Holdings are also trading sharply higher.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the lower 79 yen range in early deals in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 79.21 to the dollar.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan are trading notably higher, while Shanghai, Malaysia and New Zealand are up with modest gains. Markets across the region ended on firm note on Friday.
On Wall Street, stocks posted strong gains on Friday, amid optimism about the likelihood of further stimulus measures from the world's central banks.
The major averages ended the session near their best levels of the day. The Dow climbed 115.3 points or 0.9 percent to 12,767.2, the Nasdaq jumped 36.5 points or 1.3 percent to 2,872.8 and the S&P 500 surged up 13.7 points or 1 percent to 1,342.8.
Major European markets too moved higher on Friday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index edged up by 0.2 percent, the German DAX index and the French CAC 40 index jumped 1.5 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively.
U.S. crude oil futures settled higher on Friday, as investors weighed demand growth concerns amid rising hopes of further monetary stimulus by central banks after some soft economic data out of the U.S.
Crude for July delivery gained $0.12 or 0.1 percent to close at $84.03 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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