On April 3, Japanese and South Korean stock markets opened higher, following gains in U.S. equities overnight.

By around 8:35 a.m., South Korea's KOSPI index had expanded its gains to 3%. SK Hynix saw its stock price rise by 6%, while Samsung Electronics advanced nearly 5%.

The Nikkei 225 index climbed by 874 points, with both it and the TOPIX index rising approximately 1%. Tokyo Steel Manufacturing surged by 18%, Casio gained over 8%, and Mitsubishi Electric rose 4%. Several semiconductor stocks also advanced, with Rohm Semiconductor up more than 3% and Advantest increasing over 2%.

At the same time, Japanese government bonds declined across the board. The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond reached 2.395%, hitting its highest level since February 1999. The 20-year bond yield rose by 2.5 basis points to 3.290%.

In contrast, most pharmaceutical stocks in Japan traded lower. Chugai Pharmaceutical fell nearly 3%, while Ono Pharmaceutical declined over 1%. The movement came amid news that the United States plans to impose 100% tariffs on imported patented drugs and pharmaceutical ingredients.