Japanese Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is trading notably higher on Friday, reversing the losses in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving up to near the 66,450 level, with gains across most sectors led by exporter and technology stocks. Index heavyweights were the only weak spot.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 312.15 points or 0.47 percent to 66,444.13, after touching a high of 66,589.08 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is also down almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is up more than 1 percent and Honda is advancing more than 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is advancing almost 2 percent, Screen Holdings is adding more than 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is gaining more than 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is advancing more than 1 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are gaining almost 1 percent each.

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

Among other major gainers, Trend Micro is surging almost 5 percent, while SHIFT and Fujitsu are advancing more than 4 percent each. Nomura Research Institute and M3 are gaining almost 4 percent each, while NEC, Hitachi, BayCurrent and Sumco are adding more than 3 percent each. Nissan Motor, Mitsubishi Motors, Recruit Holdings, Nintendo and Taiyo Yuden are up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Kioxia Holdings is losing more than 4 percent.

In economic news, overall inflation in the Tokyo region of Japan rose 1.9 percent on year in August, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications or MIAC said on Friday. That was in line with expectations following the downwardly revised 1.8 percent annual increase in July (originally 2.0 percent). Core CPI was up 1.8 percent on year, matching expectations and up from the downwardly revised 1.7 percent in the previous month (originally 1.9 percent).

The MIAC also said the unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 2.4 percent in July. That was below expectations for 2.5 percent, which would have been unchanged. The job-to-applicant ratio was 1.18 - unchanged from the previous month but shy of forecasts for 1.19.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 159 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated in the afternoon but managed to end the day firmly positive after showing a notable upward move in morning trading on Thursday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a particularly strong move to the upside.

The Nasdaq jumped 411.16 points or 1.6 percent to 26,541.35 and the S&P 500 advanced 55.29 points or 0.7 percent to 7,730.99. The narrower Dow posted a more modest gain, rising 105.56 points or 0.2 percent to 53,569.44.

Meanwhile, most European stocks moved to the downside on the day. The French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 1.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.7 percent, although the German DAX Index bucked the downtrend and rose by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices soared on Thursday as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed despite efforts by Pakistan and Qatar to end the U.S.-Iran war. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $1.35 or 1.64 percent at $83.58 per barrel.