The Japanese stock market showed robust gains on Tuesday, continuing the upward momentum from the previous two sessions. The Nikkei 225 surpassed the 39,800 mark, influenced by positive signals from Wall Street, with strong performance seen in index heavyweights, exporters, and financial stocks. However, these gains were slightly offset by weaknesses in the technology sector.
The Nikkei 225 index increased by 281.74 points, or 0.71%, to reach 39,815.06, after peaking at 39,866.72 earlier in the day. This follows a modest rise in Japanese stocks on Monday.
Among the market leaders, SoftBank Group saw an increase of nearly 1%, and Fast Retailing, the operator of Uniqlo, rose by almost 2%. In the automotive sector, Honda improved by 1.5%, while Toyota experienced a gain of over 3%.
In contrast, the technology sector struggled, with Advantest dropping more than 2%, Screen Holdings declining by nearly 3%, and Tokyo Electron down by almost 2%.
Financial stocks performed well, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial each advancing by over 2%, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial increasing by nearly 2%.
Most major exporters reported gains: Panasonic surged by nearly 3%, Mitsubishi Electric saw a slight rise of 0.1%, and Canon climbed by nearly 2%. Conversely, Sony slipped by 0.4%.
Among other prominent gainers, Renesas Electronics soared nearly 10%, Furukawa Electric jumped almost 8%, and Recruit Holdings increased by over 5%. Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan Motor, Suzuki Motor, and Bridgestone each gained close to 5%, while Tokyo Tatemono, Rakuten Group, and TDK increased by more than 4%. Nissan Chemical, Isuzu Motors, and Japan Steel Works each rose by almost 4%.
On the downside, Dowa Holdings plummeted nearly 7%, DeNA fell more than 5%, and both Chiba Bank and Lasertec decreased by almost 3%.
Economically, the Bank of Japan reported a 1.2% year-on-year increase in the M2 money stock for October, reaching 1,249.8 trillion yen. This fell short of the anticipated 1.5% rise but was consistent with the revised September figure. The M3 money stock saw an annual increase of 0.7% for the second consecutive month, while the L money stock rose by 3.2% year-on-year for the third straight month.
In currency news, the U.S. dollar was trading in the lower range of 153 yen on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, stocks ended Monday on a positive note, with the Dow and S&P 500 hitting new record highs, though the Nasdaq remained flat amid a lackluster performance from technology stocks. The Dow closed at 44,293.13, up 304.14 points or 0.69%. The S&P 500 rose by 5.81 points or 0.1% to finish at 6,001.35, and the Nasdaq registered a small gain of 11.99 points or 0.06%, closing at 19,298.76.
European markets also witnessed upward trends. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 climbed by 0.65%, while Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 increased by 1.21% and 1.2%, respectively.
However, the crude oil market faced significant pressure on Monday, affected by a stronger dollar and concerns over demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December fell by $2.34 or 3.6%, closing at $68.04 per barrel.
