Japanese Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is significantly higher on Friday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 moving to a tad below the 31,400 level to climb back toward fresh 33-year highs, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, boosted by gains across most sectors, led by index heavyweights and exporters. Technology stocks were weak.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 243.40 points or 0.78 percent to 31,391.41, after touching a high of 31,424.15 earlier. Japanese stocks closed significantly higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 5 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining almost 1 percent and Toyota is adding almost 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 2 percent, Screen Holdings is down almost 1 percent and Tokyo Electron is declining almost 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging up 0.1 percent and Mizuho Financial is gaining almost 1 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is losing more than 1 percent.

Among major exporters, Panasonic is gaining 2.5 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is adding more than 2 percent, while Canon and Sony are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each.

Among the other major gainers, Eisai and Nippon Paper Industries are gaining almost 4 percent each, while Sumitomo Realty & Development, Nidec, M3 and T&D Holdings are adding more than 3 percent each. Dai-ichi Life, CyberAgent, Recruit Holdings, Omron, Mitsui Chemicals and Taiheiyo Cement are all up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Sharp is losing almost 3 percent.

In economic news, the monetary base in Japan was down 1.1 percent on year in May, the Bank of Japan said on Friday - coming in at 672.732 trillion yen. That beat expectations for a decline of 1.4 percent following the upwardly revised 1.7 percent contraction in April (originally -1.9 percent). The adjusted monetary base was down 0.7 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 138 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction in early trading on Thursday but moved notably higher over the course of the session. With the upward move on the day, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached their best closing levels in over nine months.

The major averages pulled back off their highs of the session going into the close but remained firmly positive. The Nasdaq surged 165.70 points or 1.3 percent to 13,100.98, the S&P 500 jumped 41.10 points or 1.0 percent to 4,221.02 and the Dow climbed 153.30 points or 0.5 percent to 33,061.57.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index jumped by 1.2 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index both climbed by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Thursday on hopes OPEC will announce a cut in production. Oil prices were also supported by a weak U.S. dollar and the passage of the debt ceiling bill. West Texas Intermediate crude futures for July ended higher by $2.01 or 3 percent at $70.10 per barrel.