Japanese Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - Extending the gains in the previous session, the Japanese stock market is significantly higher in post-holiday trade on Friday, following the lack of cues from Wall Street and positive cues from European markets overnight. The benchmark Nikkei 225 is moving above the 33,800 level to 33-year highs, as traders reacted to key domestic economic data, with gains across most sectors, led by index heavyweights and exporters.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 357.10 points or 1.07 percent to 33,808.93, after touching a high of 33,817.86 earlier. Japanese stocks closed modestly higher on Wednesday ahead of the holiday on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining almost 1 percent and Toyota is adding almost 3 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is edging up 0.5 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding almost 2 percent and Screen Holdings is surging almost 6 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging down 0.3 percent, while Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are losing almost 1 percent each.

Among major exporters, Sony and Panasonic are losing more than 1 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is gaining more than 2 percent and Canon is adding almost 1 percent.

Among other major gainers, Resonac Holdings is surging more than 6 percent, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is gaining almost 6 percent, CyberAgent is adding almost 5 percent and Renesas Electronics is up more than 4 percent, while Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Mazda Motor, Kyocera and TDK are advancing almost 4 percent each. IHI, Recruit Holdings, Chugai Pharmaceutical and Terumo are rising more than 3 percent each, while Taiyo Yuden and Isuzu Motors are up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Nippon Paper Industries and Daikin Industries are losing almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid-149 yen-range on Friday.

The Wall Street was closed on account of Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. The shares closed notably higher on Wednesday.

The major European markets moved to the upside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.19%, while Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 gained 0.23% and 0.24%, respectively.

Crude oil prices extend losses from the previous session on Thursday on signs of increasing U.S. inventories and amid disappointment over postponement of the OPEC+ ministerial meeting. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for January were down 1.5 percent at $75.97 a barrel.