Japanese Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - Extending the gains in the previous session, the Japanese market is significantly higher on Friday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving above the 42,900 level, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights, automakers and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 356.70 points or 0.84 percent to 42,936.97, after touching a high of 43,220.94 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining almost 1 percent and Honda is also adding almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 3 percent, Screen Holdings is adding almost 1 percent and Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.1 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.5 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are gaining almost 1 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Sony is losing more than 1 percent, while Canon is gaining more than 1 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is advancing 2.5 percent and Panasonic is edging up 0.3 percent.

Among other major gainers, Sumitomo Pharma is jumping almost 6 percent, while TDK and Konica Minolta are surging almost 5 percent each. Nikon, Fuji Electric and Hoya are gaining more than 4 percent each, while Minebea Mitsumi, Sumitomo Chemical, Furukawa Electric, Sumco, Nidec and Olympus are adding more than 3 percent each. Lasertec and Denka are advancing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Yamato Holdings is losing almost 5 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 148 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved notably higher over the course of the trading day on Thursday, with the major averages all showing strong moves to the upside after showing a lack of direction early in the session. With the upward move, the S&P 500 ended the day at a new record closing high.

The major averages finished the day just off their highs of the session. The Nasdaq jumped 209.97 points or 1.0 percent to 21,707.69, the S&P 500 advanced 53.82 points or 0.8 percent to 6,502.08 and the Dow climbed 350.06 points or 0.8 percent to 45,621.29.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. The German DAX Index climbed by 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.4 percent, although the French CAC 40 Index bucked the uptrend and dipped by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices slumped on Thursday on rising oversupply concerns as OPEC plans to hike output. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was down $0.63 or 0.98 percent at $63.34 per barrel.