Japanese Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - Reversing the losses in the previous session, the Japanese market is modestly higher on Friday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving above the 39,700 level, with gains in exporters and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 72.11 points or 0.18 percent to 39,718.47, after touching a high of 39,957.80 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is tumbling almost 6 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging up 0.5 percent and Honda is also edging up 0.1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 2 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding almost 1 percent and Screen Holdings is edging up 0.3 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is adding almost 2 percent. Among the major exporters, Sony, Mitsubishi Electric and Canon are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Panasonic is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among other major gainers, Sumco is gaining more than 3 percent, while Sumitomo Pharma, Casio Computer, Renesas Electronics and TDK are adding almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

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

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday, adding to the strong gains posted during Wednesday's session. With the upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs.

The major averages pulled back off their highs going into the end of the day but still closed in positive territory. The Dow climbed 192.34 points or 0.4 percent to 44,650.64, the Nasdaq inched up 19.33 points or 0.1 percent to 20,630.66 and the S&P 500 rose 17.20 points or 0.3 percent to 6,280.46.

Meanwhile, the major European markets also ended the day mixed. While the German DAX Index decreased by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.2 percent.

Crude oil prices fell on Thursday amid concerns about a supply increase for August by OPEC, the huge crude stock inventory in the United States and intensifying U.S. tariff pressures. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery tumbled $1.81 to settle at $66.57 per barrel.