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Japanese Market Trades Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - Japanese market trades notably higher

The Japanese stock market opened higher on Monday with investors tracking cues from Wall Street, where stocks posted strong gains on the back of fewer-than-expected job losses in August.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index is currently up 138 points or 1.5% at 9,252.1.

Electric power, textiles, oil, transport and financial stocks are mostly trading firm. Food, services, insurance and communications stocks are exhibiting a mixed trend.

T&D Holding Inc., the top gainer in the Nikkei index, is up nearly 5%. Clarion, Konica Minolta and Sumitomo Heavy Industries are trading stronger by over 4%.

Nissan Chemicals, TDK Corp., Nippon Express, Advantest, Mitsui & Co., Pioneer Corp., Casio Computer, CSK Holdings, Sharp, UBE Industries and Nisshin Steel are up 2%-4%.

Automobile stocks Honda Motor, Mazda Motor, Suzuki Motor, Nissan Motors and Hino Motors are trading firm. Bank stocks are trading mixed.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded at the lower 84 yen level in early deals in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 84.35 to the U.S. dollar.

On Wall Street, stocks rallied to their best closing levels in three weeks ahead of the Labor Day weekend on Friday, as a softer than forecast drop in August jobs helped to alleviate some fears of a double-dip recession.

The major averages ended near their highs for the session. The Dow jumped by 127.8 points or 1.2% to 10,447.9, the Nasdaq advanced by 33.7 points or 1.5% to 2,233.8 and the S&P 500 ended up 14.4 points or 1.3% at 1,104.5.

Major European markets closed notably higher on Friday. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index and the French CAC 40 Index both gained 1.1%, while the German DAX index ended up 0.8%.

Crude oil prices declined on Friday. Light sweet crude for October delivery ended down 42 cents at US$74.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.