Japanese Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - Reversing 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 39,700 level, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 395.24 points or 1.00 percent to 39,736.78, after touching a high of 39,757.21 earlier. Japanese stocks closed significantly lower on Thursday.

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

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining 2.5 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding more than 1 percent and Screen Holdings Retailing is edging up 0.5 percent.

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

Among major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 3 percent, Panasonic is adding almost 1 percent and Sony are advancing almost 2 percent, while Canon is edging down 0.3 percent.

Among other major gainers, Sumitomo Pharma and IHI are surging almost 6 percent each, while Ebara and MS&AD Insurance are gaining almost 5 percent each. T&D Holdings is adding more than 3 percent, while Tokio Marine and Itochu is advancing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Hino Motors is losing almost 5 percent.

In economic news, the unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 2.6 percent in May, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday. That was in line with expectations and unchanged from the April reading. The job-to-applicant ratio slipped to 1.24, shy of expectations for 1.26, which would have been unchanged. The participation rate ticked up for 63.3 percent, beating forecasts for 63.2 percent and up from 63.1 percent in the previous month.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said on Friday that industrial production in Japan was up a seasonally adjusted 2.8 percent on month in May,. That beat forecasts for an increase of 2.0 percent following the 0.9 percent contraction in April. On a yearly basis, industrial production was up 0.3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 161 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a lackluster performance during trading on Thursday, with traders looking ahead to the release of closely watched inflation data. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually ended the session modestly higher. The Dow crept up 36.25 points or 0.1 percent to 39,164.06, the Nasdaq rose 53.53 points or 0.3 percent to 17,858.68 and the S&P 500 inched up 4.97 points or 0.1 percent to 5,482.87.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index rose 0.3 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.6 percent and the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1.0 percent.

Crude oil prices settled higher Thursday on hopes about the outlook for demand, and on concerns about possible supply disruptions due to tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August added $0.84 at $81.74 a barrel.