Japanese Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - Recouping some of the losses in the previous three sessions, the Japanese stock market is notably higher on Friday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark Nikkei 225 is moving well above the 33,400 level, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 174.02 points or 0.52 percent to 33,462.31, after touching a high of 33,478.50 earlier. Japanese stocks closed notably lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining almost 2 percent and Toyota is adding more than 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 1 percent and Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.1 percent, while Screen Holdings is losing almost 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is adding almost 3 percent.

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

Among other major gainers, Mitsui Fudosan, Konami Group and Sumitomo Realty & Development are surging almost 5 percent each, while Tokyo Tatemono is gaining more than 4 percent. Mitsubishi Estate, Resonac Holdings and Tokyu Fudosan are adding almost 4 percent each, while Daiwa Securities, Fukuoka Financial, Isetan Mitsukoshi and Nomura Holdings are advancing more than 3 percent each. Subaru, Orix and Toyota Tsusho are up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Nitori Holdings and Renesas Electronics are losing more than 4 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 144 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a lackluster performance throughout much of the trading session on Thursday before eventually ending the day mostly lower. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 finished the session in negative territory, although the narrower Dow closed slightly higher.

The major averages moved to the downside going into the close, with the Nasdaq sliding 81.91 points or 0.6 percent to 14,510.30 and the S&P 500 falling 16.13 points or 0.3 percent at 4,688.68, while the Dow inched up 10.15 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 37,440.34.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index all climbed by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil extended yesterday's rebound in early trading on Thursday but came under pressure over the course of the session.cAfter reaching a high of $74 a barrel, crude for February delivery plunged as low as $71.06 a barrel before recovering to end the day down $0.51 or 0.7 percent at $72.19 a barrel.