Japan Futures, Nuclear Stocks Advance as Reactor Crisis Eases

Stocks in industries affected by Japan’s worst earthquake on record rallied from Sydney to Toronto amid signs the country is making progress bringing the crisis at a stricken nuclear plant under control.

Nikkei 225 Stock Average futures rose in U.S. trading, indicating the benchmark may gain when Japan’s markets resume trading after a public holiday yesterday. Contracts expiring in June changed hands at 9,540 in Chicago as of 5:25 a.m. Tokyo time, up more than 4.7 percent from the closing levels of 9,110 in Singapore and 9,130 in Osaka, Japan, on March 18. Tokyo Electric Power Co., owner of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant, climbed 18 percent in U.S. trading after saying it connected a power cable to the No. 3 and 4 reactors at the plant.