Japanese Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is notably higher on Monday, snapping a four-session losing streak, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 32,600 level, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, boosted by gains in exporters and technology stocks, partially offset by losses in financial stocks. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 207.85 or 0.64 percent at 32,610.26, after touching a high of 32,642.75 earlier. Japanese shares ended notably lower on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 2 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.4 percent, while Toyota is losing more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings and Advantest are gaining more than 3 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is adding more than 1 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is losing almost 3 percent, while Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are declining almost 2 percent each.

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

Among other major losers, Daiichi Sankyo is surging more than 7 percent and Ebara is gaining more than 3 percent, while Takashimaya and Konami are adding almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Fukuoka Financial is losing almost 3 percent.

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

On Wall Street, stocks saw substantial volatility in the latter part of the trading session on Friday after an early move to the upside. The major averages showed wild swings back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually ending the day modestly lower.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq edged down 12.18 points or 0.1 percent 13,211.81, its lowest closing level in over three months. The S&P 500 also dipped 9.94 points or 0.2 percent to a three-month closing low of 4,320.06, while the Dow fell 106.58 points or 0.3 percent to a two-month closing low of 33,963.84.

Meanwhile, the major European markets also finished the day mixed. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices briefly fell into the red a little past noon on Friday, but recovered swiftly to end the day's session on a firm note. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November settled with a loss of $0.40 or about 0.5% at $90.03 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 0.6% in the week, the first weekly loss in four weeks.