The Japanese stock market is rising on Monday after two straight days of losses. Investors shrugged off the negative cues from Wall Street Friday amid concerns about recent market volatility and following news that Johnson & Johnson's one-dose coronavirus vaccine appeared to be less potent against COVID variants.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 261.72 points or 0.95 percent to 27,925.11, after touching a high of 27,951.47 earlier. The Japanese market closed sharply lower on Friday, extending losses to a second straight session.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is rising more than 2 percent and Fast Retailing is adding almost 1 percent. In the tech space, Tokyo Electron is higher by more than 2 percent and Advantest is rising more than 1 percent.
The major exporters are mostly higher on a weaker yen. Canon is rising more than 3 percent after sharp losses last week, while Sony and Mitsubishi Electric are advancing almost 1 percent each.
Panasonic is down 0.4 percent after reports said the electronics giant has decided to end its unprofitable solar cell manufacturing operations. The company will reportedly end solar cell production at its factories in Malaysia and Japan by March 2022.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are advancing more than 1 percent each. Among automakers, Toyota is down 0.6 percent, while Honda is adding 0.5 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Toto is gaining almost 11 percent, NEC Corp. is rising more than 10 percent and Nippon Express is higher by more than 8 percent.
Conversely, Ajinomoto Co. and TDK Corp. are losing more than 6 percent each, East Japan Railway is lower by almost 5 percent and Hitachi Construction Machinery is declining more than 4 percent.
In economic news, the latest survey from Jibun Bank showed that the manufacturing sector in Japan fell into contraction in January, with a PMI score of 49.8. That's down from 50 in December, which was right on the line that separated expansion from contraction.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 104 yen-range on Monday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed sharply lower on Friday amid concerns about recent market volatility as traders kept a close eye on heavily shorted stocks like GameStop and AMC Entertainment. Negative sentiment was also generated in reaction to news that Johnson & Johnson's one-dose coronavirus vaccine appeared to be less potent against variants.
The Dow plunged 620.74 points or 2 percent to 29,982.62, the Nasdaq plummeted 266.46 points or 2 percent to 13,070.69 and the S&P 500 tumbled 73.14 points or 1.9 percent to 3,714.24.
The major European also showed significant moves to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index plunged by 2 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index slumped by 1.8 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively.
Crude oil futures settled lower on Friday, as worries about the outlook for energy demand due to rising coronavirus cases and delays in vaccine supplies weighed on prices. WTI crude for March delivery edged down $0.14 or about 0.3 percent to $52.20 a barrel.
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