Japanese Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is modestly higher in choppy trading on Monday, extending the gains in the previous five sessions, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 32,800 level, following the positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, with gains in resources related stocks amid a spike in commodity prices. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 119.87 or 0.37 percent at 32,830.49, after touching a high of 32,861.90 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is advancing 1.5 percent and Toyota is adding more than 2 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings and Advantest are edging down 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is edging up more 0.2 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is advancing almost 1 percent.

The major exporters are mixed. Canon and Sony are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Panasonic is edging up 0.1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is adding almost 1 percent.

Among other major gainers, Kobe Steel is gaining more than 4 percent, while Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha and Taiyo Yuden are adding almost 4 percent each. Resona Holdings is up more than 3 percent, while Mazda Motor, Resonac Holdings and Yaskawa Electric are advancing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In economic news, the monetary base in Japan climbed 1.2 percent on year in August, the Bank of Japan said on Monday - coming in at 667.447 trillion yen. That was well above forecasts for a decline of 0.7 percent following the upwardly revised 1.3 percent contraction in July (originally -1.4 percent). The adjusted monetary base surged 19.4 percent to 660.849 trillion yen.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 146 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher in early trading on Friday but quickly gave back ground and showed a lack of direction over the remainder of the session. The major averages pulled back off their early highs and spent much of the day lingering near the unchanged line.

The Dow managed to spend most of the day in positive territory before closing up 115.80 points or 0.3 percent at 34,837.71. The S&P 500 also rose 8.11 points or 0.2 percent to 4,515.77, while the Nasdaq edged down 3.15 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 14,031.81, snapping a five-day winning streak.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index increased 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index slid by 0.7 percent.

Crude oil showed another significant move to the upside during trading on Friday, extending recent gains over supply concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery surged $1.92 or 2.3 percent to $85.55 a barrel, closing higher for the seventh straight session. The price of crude oil soared 7.2 percent for the week.