Japanese Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - Extending the strong gains in the previous session, the Japanese stock market is modestly higher on Friday, despite the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight. The benchmark Nikkei 225 is moving to near the 38,700 level, with gains across most sectors led by financial stocks as Prime Minister Ishiba and Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda downplayed the likelihood of an interest rate hike soon.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 131.31 points or 0.34 percent to 38,683.37, after touching a high of 38,698.30 earlier. Japanese stocks closed sharply higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.3 percent, while Toyota is declining almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 1 percent, while Tokyo Electron is losing almost 2 percent and Screen Holdings is down almost 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining more than 2 percent, Mizuho Financial is adding more than 1 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is up more than 1 percent.

Among major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric, Canon and Sony are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each, while Panasonic is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among other major gainers, M3 is gaining almost 4 percent, while Inpex and SMC are adding more than 3 percent each. Mercari, Japan Steel Works, Sharp, ENEOS Holdings, JGC Holdings and Tokyo Electric Power are advancing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha and Nippon Yusen K.K. are plummeting more than 9 percent each, while Mitsui O.S.K. Lines is plunging almost 7 percent and Ebara is declining almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 146 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks continued to experience choppy trading during Thursday's session following the lackluster performance seen during trading on Wednesday. The major averages once again spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually finished the day modestly lower. While the Nasdaq edged down 6.65 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 17,918.48, the S&P 500 slipped 9.60 points or 0.2 percent to 5,699.94 and the narrower Dow fell 184.93 points or 0.4 percent to 42,011.59.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slumped 1.3 percent, the German DAX Index slid by 0.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices moved up sharply on Thursday thanks to tensions in the Middle East, with the war between Israel and Iran raising concerns about supply disruptions. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended up $3.61 or 5.2 percent at $73.71 a barrel.