Japanese Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - Adding to the gains in the previous session, 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 38,400 level, with gains across most sectors led by some index heavyweights, exporters and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 302.52 points or 0.79 percent to 38,460.46, after touching a fresh 34-year high of 38,865.06 earlier. Japanese stocks closed sharply higher on Thursday.

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

In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Screen Holdings is plunging almost 7 percent.

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

Among major exporters, Panasonic is gaining almost 1 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is advancing almost 3 percent and Canon is adding more than 2 percent, while Sony is losing more than 2 percent.

Among other major gainers, Resonac Holdings is soaring almost 7 percent, BANDAI NAMCO is surging more than 6 percent and Rakuten Group is gaining almost 6 percent, while T&D Holdings and Idemitsu Kosan are adding almost 5 percent each. Olympus, NEXON and Dai-ichi Life are advancing more than 4 percent each, while NTT Data, Recruit Holdings, Mitsui & Co., Inpex, Keisei Electric Railway and Pacific Metals are rising almost 4 percent each. Mitsubishi Estate is up more than 3 percent.

Conversely, Trend Micro is plummeting almost 15 percent and Sumco is losing more than 5 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 150 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction early in the session on Thursday but moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day. The major averages extended the significant rebound seen during Wednesday's session, with the S&P 500 reaching a new record closing high.

The major averages finished the day just off their highs of the session. The Dow jumped 348.85 points or 0.9 percent to 38,773.12, the Nasdaq rose 47.03 points or 0.3 percent to 15,906.17 and the S&P 500 climbed 29.11 points or 0.6 percent to 5,029.73.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.9 percent, the German DAX Index increased by 0.6 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil futures ended higher on Thursday as the dollar weakened after the weak retail sales data raised hopes of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve in June. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March rallied $1.39 or 1.8 percent at $78.03 a barrel.