Japanese Market Rises

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is rising on Monday, extending gains from the previous session on Friday, as a weaker yen and the release of better-than-expected U.S. gross domestic product data boosted investor sentiment.

The U.S. Department of Commerce revealed on Friday that U.S. gross domestic product, a gauge of broad economic activity, rose by an annual rate of 1.4 percent in the last three months of 2015. The figure had previously been reported to have risen by 0.7 percent. Economists had expected the figure to be revised up to about 1.0 percent.

In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is advancing 119.86 points or 0.70 percent to 17,122.61, off a high of 17,167.88 earlier.

Among the major exporters, Sony is edging down 0.05 percent, Toshiba is declining almost 1 percent and Canon is lower by 0.3 percent.

Hon Hai Precision's board of directors will meet on Wednesday, with media reports indicating that the company will likely agree to a lower bid for troubled electronics maker Sharp. Shares of Sharp are rising almost 4 percent.

Trading house Mitsui & Co. is lower by 0.3 percent and peer Mitsubishi Corp. is down 0.1 percent.

Automaker Toyota is edging up 0.03 percent, while Honda is down 0.3 percent. In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is declining 0.4 percent.

In the oil space, Inpex is edging up 0.08 percent, while refiner JX Holdings is down 0.5 percent.

The Nikkei business daily reported that convenience store operator FamilyMart will work with the Japan Post group to provide shipping between the company's domestic convenience stores and foreign destinations in Asia. Shares of FamilyMart are advancing almost 1 percent.

Shares of Seven & I Holdings are adding more than 1 percent after activist investor Daniel Loeb reportedly sent a letter to the convenience store operator, urging its board to make a CEO succession plan based on shareholders' interests.

Among the other major gainers, Haseko Corp. is rising almost 4 percent and Showa Denko is adding almost 2 percent. Meanwhile, Sumitomo Osaka Cement is losing more than 2 percent and Tokio Marine Holdings is down more than 1 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the mid 113 yen-level on Monday, up from Friday's close in the lower 113 yen-range in Tokyo.

The U.S and European markets were closed on Friday for the Good Friday holiday.