Japanese Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is significantly higher on Friday, recouping some of the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 moving to just below the 27,200 level, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, with financial and technology stocks rebounding amid improved risk sentiment in financial markets.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 169.39 points or 0.63 percent to 27,180.00, after touching a high of 27,254.36 earlier. Japanese stocks closed significantly lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is flat and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.3 percent. Among automakers, Honda and Toyota are losing almost 1 percent each.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is adding almost 1 percent, while Screen Holdings is edging down 0.3 percent. In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is gaining more than 1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging up 0.3 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is losing almost 1 percent.

Among major exporters, Canon and Panasonic are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each, while Sony is gaining almost 3 percent. Mitsubishi Electric is edging down 0.5 percent. Among the other major gainers, Tobu Railway and Hoya are gaining more than 4 percent each, while Keisei Electric Railway is adding more than 3 percent. Daiichi Sankyo, Hitachi and West Japan Railway are up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Taisei Corp. is plunging almost 9 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 133 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks recovered from early weakness and moved sharply higher over the course of the trading session on Thursday. The major averages all showed strong moves to the upside on the day, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the advance.

While the Nasdaq spiked 283.22 points or 2.5 percent to 11,717.28, closing higher for the fourth straight session, the S&P 500 surged 68.35 points or 1.8 percent to 3,960.28 and the Dow jumped 371.98 points or 1.2 percent to 32,246.55.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index surged by 2.0 percent, the German DAX Index jumped by 1.6 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.9 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Thursday on reports that Saudi Arabia's energy minister and Russia's deputy prime minister met to discuss about ways to enhance market stability. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April climbed $0.74 or 1.1 percent at $68.35 a barrel.