The Japanese stock market opened on a high note Monday and the benchmark Nikkei 225 index zoomed past the 14,700 mark for the first time since early January 2008, as the yen's fall against the U.S. dollar triggered some strong buying in opening trades.
The Nikkei, which opened higher by more than 150 points at 14,759.5 and rose to 14.828.1 subsequently, is currently trading at 14,804, up 196.5 points or 1.3 percent from its previous close.
Mitsubishi Materials Corp. shares are up as much as 18 percent. Meidensha Corp., Kubota Corp., Sharp Corp., NTN Corp., NSK Ltd., Mitsumi Electric and Panasonic Corp. are trading higher by 10 to 16 percent.
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. shares are up more than 8 percent following its forecast for higher earnings and its announcement of a share repurchase.
Nisshin Steel Holdings, Daiwa Securities Group, Nomura Holdings, Pioneer Corp., Hitachi, GS Yuasa Corp., Fuji Heavy Industries, Dai-ichi Life Insurance and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MTU) are up 5 to 9 percent.
Casio Computer, Suzuki Motor, Mazda Motor, Mitsubishi Motors, Hino Motors, Isuzu Motors, Nikon Corp., Mizuho Financial (MFG), JFE Holdings, Sony Corp. (SNE) and Advantest Corp. (ATE) are also up sharply.
Meanwhile, Tokyo Tatemono, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Inpex Corp., Takara Holdings, Toho Zinc and Ube Industries are trading weak, losing 3.5 to 5.5 percent.
Chiba Bank, Bank of Yokohama, Trend Micro, Marui Group, Toho Co. and Japan Tobacco are also trading notably lower.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded around 102 yen in early deals in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 101.88 to the U.S. dollar.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Indonesia, Malaysia and New Zealand are trading modestly higher. Australia and Singapore are up marginally, while Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea are trading weak.
On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher on Friday, offsetting the weakness that was seen in the previous session. The markets continued to benefit from the recent upward momentum despite a relatively quiet day in terms of news.
The major averages ended the day at their highs for the session. The Dow edged up 35.9 points or 0.2 percent to 15,118.5, the Nasdaq advanced 27.4 points or 0.8 percent to 3,436.6 and the S&P 500 rose 7 points or 0.4 percent to 1,633.7.
Major European markets too ended higher on Friday. While the German DAX index edged up by 0.2 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index and the French CAC 40 index advanced by 0.5 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.
U.S. crude oil prices slipped on renewed global demand worries after OPEC left its 2013 estimate unchanged and reported increased output in April. Crude for June delivery ended down 35 cents at $96.04 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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