TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is surging higher Monday, bouncing back from recent losses, on positive cues from Wall Street and a stronger greenback.
A report that said the Japanese pension fund will increase its allocation target for local shares to 25 percent is contributing as well to the market's upmove.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index is up 482.1 points or 3.3 percent at 15,013.32, after rising to 15,044.7.
All the members of the Nikkei 225 index are up in positive territory.
Minebea is rising 7.6 percent. Hitachi Zosen Corp., IHI Corp., Yaskawa Electric, Sumco Corp., Tokyu Fudosan Holdings, JTEKT Corp., Suzuki Moto, Astellas Pharma, Resona Holdings, Toyota Motor and Japan Tobacco are advancing 5 to 6 percent.
NEC Corp. shares are up 5.3 percent amid reports the company's operating profit likely rose 50-fold in the first half.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is up nearly 5 percent. The company unveiled its new Mitsubishi Regional Jet on Saturday.
Fujitsu, Hino Motors, Mazda Motor, Fuji Heavy Industries, Pioneer Corp., Sharp Corp., TDK Corp., Panasonic Corp. (PC), Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Nissan Motor, Dentsu Inc., East Japan Railway, Takashimay and Seven & I Holdings are all moving up by over 4 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the lower 107 yen range in early deals in Tokyo, up from Friday's close of 106.42 yen.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia are all trading notably higher, while Shanghai is flat.
On Wall Street, stocks ended sharply higher on Friday amid speculation the U.S. Federal Reserve may delay the end of its asset purchase program following recent comments from St Louis Fed President James Bullard.
The Dow soared 273.2 points or 1.6 percent to 16,380.4, the Nasdaq jumped 41.0 points or 1 percent to 4,258.4 and the S&P 500 surged up 24.0 points or 1.3 percent to 1,886.8.
Major European markets too closed sharply higher on Friday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index jumped 1.9 percent, the French CAC 40 index and the German DAX index surged up by 29 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively.
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