Japanese Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is trading sharply higher on Friday, reversing the losses in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving above the 61,650 level, with gains across most sectors led by financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 850.24 points or 1.40 percent to 61,669.60, after touching a high of 61,796.20 earlier. Japanese shares ended notably lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is declining more than 3 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining almost 2 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging down 0.3 percent, while Honda is gaining more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is surging more than 5 percent, Screen Holdings is gaining almost 1 percent and Tokyo Electron is advancing almost 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining more than 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is losing almost 1 percent, while Panasonic is gaining almost 1 percent, Sony is adding more than 1 percent and Canon is edging up 0.4 percent.

Among other major gainers, Amada is soaring more than 11 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust is jumping more than 6 percent, Haseko is surging more than 6 percent, Recruit Holdings is jumping almost 6 percent, Trend Micro is advancing more than 5 percent and BayCurrent is gaining almost 5 percent, while Nippon Electric Glass Kioxia Holdings are adding more than 4 percent each. Sapporo Holdings and Kokusai Electric are rising almost 4 percent each, while Murata Manufacturing, Socionext, NGK, Sumitomo Pharma and Lasertec are up more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, Terumo is tumbling more than 8 percent, Haseko is sliding more than 6 percent and Mercari is losing more than 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 159 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks recovered from an initial slump but moved back to the downside over the course of the trading day on Thursday. The major averages all finished the day in negative territory, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 partly offsetting Wednesday's strong gains.

After plunging by as much as 1.6 percent in early trading, the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day down 100.09 points or 0.4 percent to 25,366.09. The S&P 500 also fell 26.98 points or 0.4 percent to 7,592.40, while the Dow declined 189.40 points or 0.4 percent to 52,297.09.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside the day. While the German DAX Index climbed by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both rose by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices spiked on Thursday as supply disruptions concerns resurfaced after U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. is no longer interested in any deal with Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery rose $1.96 or 2.27 percent at $88.49 per barrel.