Japanese market ends up on Wall Street gains; stronger dollar

The Japanese market closed sharply higher on Monday, ending a four-day losing streak. Wall Street's sharp gains on Friday and a stronger U.S. dollar boosted investor sentiment.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed up 212.62 points or 1.68% at 12,878.66 after losing nearly 500 points during the previous four sessions. The broader Topix index of all the First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange advanced 22.83 points or 1.88% to finish at 1,239.25. In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the upper 109-yen levels, down slightly from lower 110-yen levels in early trade. The local unit finished Friday's session at 109.10-109.11 yen. The U.S. dollar strengthened on gains in the U.S. stocks on Friday and a plunge in crude oil prices. The U.S. market rallied Friday on the back of a sharp drop in oil prices. A report that state-run Korea Development Bank is considering the acquisition of Lehman Brothers and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments that inflationary pressures are likely to moderate also added to the positive sentiment. The Dow Industrials jumped 1.7% and the Nasdaq climbed 1.4%. Oil prices rose in late Asian session Monday, trading at $115.10 a barrel, up 51 cents, by 3:08 a.m. ET after plunging US$6.59 to US$114.59 a barrel on Friday as Russia pulled troops out of Georgia. On the economic front, traders had little to digest in terms of economic data. While banks and exporters led the gainers, mining stocks and trading houses fell on lower commodity prices. Major exporters rose on a weaker yen. Toyota Motor gained 2.9%, Sony and Honda Motor surged 4.4% each, machinery maker Komatsu advanced 0.9%, and Canon climbed 2.8%. Among financials, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group jumped 4.8% each, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group climbed 4.2%, top brokerage Nomura Holdings gained 3.0%, and Daiwa Securities Group added 2.3%. Sea transporters were higher, with Kawasaki Kisen rising 3.5%, Mitsui OSK Lines gaining 3.2%, and Nippon Yusen adding 2.4%. Oil and gas miner Inpex Holdings plunged 4.5% and Nippon Mining Holdings slipped 0.2%, while Nippon Oil rose 1.1% after oil prices plummeted Friday. Among trading houses, Marubeni fell 1.5%, Itochu lost 1.1%, Mitsubishi Corp declined 0.7%, and Mitsui & Co. gave away 0.9%. Sanyo Electric gained 1.4% after a report said that the company would disband Sanyo BPL, a 50-50 Indian joint venture that manufactures cathode-ray tube for televisions, in the current fiscal year to March 2009. Nippon Steel rose 1.4% after a Nikkei report said that the leading steelmaker and other major Japanese steelmakers plan to jointly acquire overseas mining rights for iron ore. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved