The Japanese stock market is notably higher on Monday following the positive cues from Wall Street Friday. Investor sentiment was buoyed by news that the U.S and. China have agreed to restart trade talks and to not impose additional tariffs on each other's products.
The decision came at the highly-anticipated meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on Saturday.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 350.66 points or 1.65 percent to 21,626.58, after touching a high of 21,639.85 earlier. Japanese shares closed modestly lower on Friday.
The major exporters are rising on a weaker yen. Mitsubishi Electric is gaining 3 percent, Panasonic is higher by more than 2 percent, Sony is rising more than 1 percent and Canon is advancing almost 1 percent.
Among tech stocks, Tokyo Electron is advancing almost 4 percent and Advantest is higher by more than 5 percent.
In the oil sector, Inpex is higher by more than 1 percent and Japan Petroleum advanced almost 2 percent after crude oil prices rose nearly 2 percent on Monday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank is up 0.6 percent and Fast Retailing is adding almost 1 percent. In the auto space, Honda Motor is rising 0.3 percent and Toyota Motor is up almost 1 percent.
Among the major gainers, Taiyo Yuden is gaining more than 9 percent, Screen Holdings is higher by almost 7 percent and Okuma Corp. is rising almost 6 percent.
On the flip side, Rakuten and Chiyoda Corp. are losing almost 4 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 108 yen range on Monday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed higher on Friday in volatile trade as traders looked ahead to the highly anticipated meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Japan. Some buying interest was generated in reaction to news that all 18 of the largest banks in the U.S. passed the Federal Reserve's annual stress test.
The Dow rose 73.38 points or 0.3 percent to 26,599.96, the Nasdaq climbed 38.49 points or 0.5 percent to 8,006.24 and the S&P 500 advanced 16.84 points or 0.6 percent to 2,941.76.
The major European markets also moved to the upside on Friday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.8 percent and the German DAX Index jumped by 1 percent.
Crude oil futures settled notably lower on Friday, with traders trimming down some positions as they looked ahead to the meeting of the U.S. and Chinese Presidents, and the decision of the OPEC and its allies on production levels. WTI crude for August delivery slumped $0.96 or 1.6 percent to close at $58.47 a barrel.
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