Japanese Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - Recouping some of the losses in the previous two sessions, the Japanese stock market is significantly higher on Friday, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight. The benchmark Nikkei 225 is moving above the 38,300 level, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 254.93 points or 0.67 percent to 38,328.91, after touching a high of 38,741.88 earlier. Japanese stocks closed modestly lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 1 percent, while Toyota is declining more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 1 percent and Tokyo Electron is adding more than 1 percent, while Screen Holdings is plunging almost 10 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining almost 2 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are adding almost 1 percent each.

Among major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric and Canon are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Panasonic is declining almost 5 percent and Sony is losing more than 1 percent.

Among other major gainers, Kobe Steel and Konami Group are skyrocketing almost 10 percent each, while Daikin Industries is soaring almost 9 percent, Sumco is surging almost 8 percent and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is rising more than 7 percent. Sumitomo Pharma and BANDAI NAMCO are gaining almost 7 percent each, while Sumitomo Realty & Development, Mercari and Ajinomoto are adding more than 5 percent each. Kao, Nintendo, Marubeni and Nippon Yusen K.K. are advancing more than 4 percent each.

Conversely, NSK is losing almost 5 percent and Asahi Kasei is declining almost 4 percent.

In economic news, the average of household spending in Japan was down 1.2 percent on year in March, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday - coming in at 318,713 yen. That beat forecasts for a decline of 2.3 percent following the 0.5 percent drop in February. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, household spending rose 1.2 percent - again topping expectations for a loss 0.3 percent following the 1.4 percent increase in the previous month. The average of monthly income per household stood at 513,734 yen, down 0.1 percent on year.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance said Japan posted a current account surplus of 3.398 trillion yen in March, up 44 percent from the previous year. That was shy of expectations for a surplus of 3.489 trillion yen but was up from 2.644 trillion yen in February.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 155 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday following the lackluster performance seen over the two previous sessions. The Dow extended its winning streak to seven sessions, once again reaching its best closing level in over a month.

The major averages ended the day just off their highs of the session. The Dow jumped 331.37 points or 0.9 percent to 39,387.76, the S&P 500 climbed 26.41 points or 0.5 percent to 5,214.08 and the Nasdaq rose 43.51 points or 0.3 percent to 16,346.26.

The major European markets all also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index jumped by 1.0 percent, the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Thursday, lifted by optimism about the outlook for demand and on recent data showing a bigger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.27 at $79.26 a barrel.