Japanese Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading notably higher on Monday, reversing some of the losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 moving a tad above the 50,650 level, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights, financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 376.55 points or 0.75 percent at 50,652.92, after touching a all-time high of 50,753.06 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly lower on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing almost 5 percent and Toyota is flat.

In the tech space, Advantest is advancing 2.5 percent and Tokyo Electron is gaining almost 3 percent, while Screen Holdings is losing more than 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining more than 1 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding almost 1 percent and Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.2 percent.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.2 percent and Canon is gaining almost 1 percent, while Panasonic is edging down 0.1 percent. Sony is flat.

Among the other major gainers, Mercari is skyrocketing more than 15 percent, Olympus is soaring more than 11 percent and Tokyu Fudosan is surging almost 6 percent, while UBE and Konica Minolta are gaining more than 4 percent each, while Kubota, Ebara, Sumitomo Metal Mining and Furukawa Electric are adding more than 3 percent each. Mitsui Kinzoku, NTN and Haseko are advancing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Mazda Motor is slipping almost 6 percent and Omron is declining more than 5 percent, while Sumitomo Pharma and Chugai Pharmaceutical are losing more than 3 percent each. Recruit Holdings and Nintendo is down almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 153 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a significant rebound over the course of the trading day on Friday after initially extending the sharp pullback seen during Thursday's session. The major averages climbed well off their lows of the session, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching positive territory.

The major averages ended the day narrowly mixed. While the Nasdaq dipped 49.46 points or 0.2 percent to 23,004.54 after plunging by as much as 2.1 percent, the S&P 500 inched up 8.48 points or 0.1 percent to 6,278.80 and the Dow rose 74.80 points or 0.2 percent to 46,987.10.

Meanwhile, the major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.2 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index fell by 0.6 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices saw modest gains on Friday as a weakening dollar was offset by reports of oversupply and low demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $0.38 or 0.64 percent at $59.81 per barrel.