TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is rising on Tuesday, recovering from sharp losses in the previous session despite the mixed cues overnight from Wall Street amid lingering fears of a global economic slowdown. Investors went bargain hunting, while a weaker yen boosted shares of exporters.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is advancing 352.66 points or 1.68 percent to 21,329.77, after touching a high of 21,351.06 earlier. Japanese shares closed notably lower on Monday.
The major exporters are notably higher on a weaker yen. Mitsubishi Electric and Sony are rising almost 3 percent each, Panasonic is higher by more than 2 percent and Canon is advancing almost 2 percent.
In the tech sector, Tokyo Electron is adding 0.7 percent and Advantest is higher by more than 1 percent. Among the major automakers, Honda is rising more than 2 percent and Toyota is advancing more than 1 percent.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is up 1 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial rising more than 1 percent. In the oil sector, Inpex is gaining almost 2 percent and Japan Petroleum is higher by more than 2 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Cyberagent is gaining more than 8 percent, while Daiichi Sankyo and Keisei Electric Railway are higher by more than 4 percent each. Shionogi & Co. and Eisai Co. are rising almost 4 percent each.
On the flip side, Showa Shell Sekiyu and Aozora Bank are declining more than 1 percent each.
On the economic front, the Bank of Japan said that producer prices in Japan were up 1.1 percent on year in February, shy of expectations for a gain of 1.2 percent following the downwardly revised 1.0 percent increase in January. On a monthly basis, producer prices were up 0.3 percent after sinking 0.6 percent in the previous month.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 110 yen-range on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed mixed on Monday as traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves amid a quiet day on the U.S. economic front. An inversion of the yield curve contributed to economic worries, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note falling below the yield on three-month bills. The inverted yield curve has not occurred since 2007 and is seen by many as an indication that a recession is on the way.
While the Dow inched up 14.51 points or 0.1 percent to 25,516.83, the Nasdaq dipped 5.13 points or 0.1 percent to 7,637.54 and the S&P 500 edged down 2.35 points or 0.1 percent to 2,798.36.
The major European markets showed more modest moves to the downside on Monday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both dipped by 0.2 percent.
Crude oil prices edged lower on Monday, as fears of a drop in energy demand due to a global economic slowdown outweighed optimism over OPEC-led supply cuts and the U.S. sanctions on Iran and Venezuela. WTI crude for May ended down $0.22 or 0.4 percent at $58.82 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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