Japanese Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - Recouping most of the losses in the previous session, the Japanese stock market is significantly higher on Friday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark Nikkei 225 is moving above the 36,400 level, with gains across most sectors led by some index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 411.22 points or 1.14 percent to 36,422.68, after touching a high of 36,441.09 earlier. Japanese stocks closed significantly lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is also adding more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.3 percent and Toyota is also edging down 0.1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 4 percent, Screen Holdings is adding 4.5 percent and Tokyo Electron is advancing almost 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are losing almost 1 percent each.

Among major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is edging down 0.1 percent and Canon is losing almost 1 percent, while Sony is gaining almost 1 percent and Panasonic is edging up 0.3 percent.

Among other major gainers, NEXON is skyrocketing almost 22 percent, Konica Minolta is soaring more than 11 percent, Konami Group is surging almost 6 percent, Mitsui Mining & Smelting is gaining almost 5 percent, CyberAgent is adding more than 4 percent and J. Front Retailing is advancing almost 4 percent, while Toto, Fujitsu and Nissan Chemical are rising more than 3 percent each. Tokyo Electric Power, Shin-Etsu Chemical and BANDAI NAMCO are up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Aozora Bank is plunging more than 15 percent, Mitsubishi Motors is slipping almost 7 percent and Hino Motors in losing more than 4 percent, while T&D Holdings and Dai-ichi Life Holdings are declining almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, the monetary base in Japan was up 4.8 percent on year in January, the Bank of Japan said on Friday - coming in at 668.019 trillion yen. That was well shy of expectations for an increase of 7.5 percent and down from 8.2 percent in December. The adjusted monetary base tumbled 12.1 percent to 673.007 trillion yen.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 146 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a strong move back to the upside during trading on Thursday following the sell-off seen in the previous session. The major averages fluctuated early in the session but climbed firmly into positive territory as the day progressed.

The major averages finished the session near their best levels of the day. The Dow jumped 369.54 points or 1.0 percent to 38,519.84, the Nasdaq surged 197.63 points or 1.3 percent to 15,361.64 and the S&P 500 shot up 60.54 points or 1.3 percent to 4,906.19.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 0.9 percent, the German DAX Index fell by 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Thursday with traders following the negotiations of a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, although a possible pick-up in energy demand helped limit the downside. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March sank $2.03 or 2.7 percent at $73.82 a barrel.