Japanese Market Sharply Higher, Up 5.4%

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is trading sharply higher on Friday, extending the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is surging 5.4 percent to near the 65,200 level, with gains across most sectors led by financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 3,328.61 points or 5.38 percent to 65,196.04, after touching a high of 65,203.87 earlier. Japanese shares ended notably higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is spiking more than 15 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.5 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is down almost 1 percent and Honda is losing almost 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is soaring almost 18 percent, Screen Holdings is surging almost 9 percent and Tokyo Electron is spiking more than 10 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining more than 3 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining more than 2 percent and Mizuho Financial is surging more than 5 percent.

Among the major exporters, Panasonic is flat, Mitsubishi Electric is surging more than 8 percent, while Canon is down more than 2 percent and Sony is losing almost 2 percent.

Among other major gainers, Sumco and Furukawa Electric are skyrocketing almost 16 percent each, while Mitsui Kinzoku and Disco are spiking more than 14 percent each. Fujikura, Resonac Holdings, Sumitomo Electric Industries and Lasertec are jumping almost 13 percent each, while Ebara and Fuji Electric are soaring almost 12 percent each. Renesas Electronics and Sumitomo Metal Mining are surging more than 9 percent each.

Conversely, Nomura Research Institute is plummeting almost 13 percent, Konica Minolta is plunging almost 12 percent, M3 is tumbling almost 10 percent and Fujitsu is sliding almost 7 percent, while Konami Group, Nintendo and Hitachi Construction Machinery are slipping almost 6 percent each. Shiseido and Daiichi Sankyo are declining more than 5 percent each, while Trend Micro is declining almost 5 percent. Seven & I Holdings, CyberAgent, Ricoh and NEC are losing more than 4 percent. Asahi Group is down almost 4 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 160 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher during trading on Thursday, largely offsetting the sell-off seen late in the previous session. The major averages showed a strong move to the upside early in the session and remained firmly positive throughout the day.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq helped lead the way higher, spiking 679.24 points or 2.8 percent to 25,122.18. The S&P 500 also shot up 121.48 points or 1.7 percent to 7,437.63 and the Dow jumped 613.92 points or 1.2 percent to 52,508.06.

The major European markets all also moved to the upside on the day. The French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.9 percent and the German DAX Index rose by 0.6 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the uptrend and edged down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices slipped on Thursday as ongoing talks between Iran and Oman over the Strait of Hormuz management induced positivity on the resumption of the free flow of gulf oil. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $0.65 or 0.77 percent at $83.81 per barrel.