Japanese Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is sharply higher on Monday, recouping some of the losses in the previous two sessions, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 27,500 level, tracking the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, with gains across most sectors, led by exporters and technology stocks after the Bank of Japan maintained its ultra-low interest rates and dovish stance.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 453.78 or 1.67 percent at 27,558.98, after touching a high of 27,577.43 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly lower on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 5 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda and Toyota are gaining more than 1 percent each.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 3 percent and Tokyo Electron is adding more than 2 percent, while Screen Holdings is edging down 0.1 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are gaining 1.5 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is adding almost 1 percent.

The major exporters are strong, with Sony and Canon adding almost 2 percent each, while Panasonic is gaining more than 1 percent. Mitsubishi Electric is losing almost 2 percent. Among the other major gainers, Alps Alpine is skyrocketing 18.5 percent and JTEKT is soaring almost 11 percent, while Toyota Tsusho and Keyence are surging more than 7 percent each. Hitachi is gaining more than 5 percent, NTN is adding almost 5 percent, Mitsui E&S Holdings is up more than 4 percent and Taiyo Yuden is gaining almost 4 percent, while Nippon Sheet Glass, NSK, Japan Steel Works, SMC, Suzuki Motor and Fuji Electric are advancing more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, Pacific Metals is plummeting almost 11 percent, NGK Insulators is plunging more than 7 percent and Toto is losing more than 5 percent.

In economic news, the value of industrial production in Japan was up 9.8 percent on year in September, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry or METI said on Monday. That beat expectations for an increase of 7.0 percent and was up from 5.8 percent in the previous month. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, industrial production slipped 1.6 percent - missing forecasts for a decline of 1.0 percent after rising 3.4 percent in August.

The METI also said the value of retail sales in Japan was up 4.5 percent on year in September, coming in at 12.591 trillion yen. That beat forecasts for a gain of 4.1 percent, which would have been unchanged from the August reading. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail sales climbed 1.1 percent, slowing from 1.1 percent in the previous month. For the third quarter of 2022, retail sales gained 3.6 percent on year and 1.3 percent on quarter, coming in at 38.140 trillion yen.

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

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading day on Friday following the mixed performance seen in Thursday's session. The major averages all showed strong moves to the upside, with the Dow reaching a two-month closing high.

The major averages reached new highs going into the close of trading. The Dow surged 828.52 points or 2.6 percent to 32,861.80, the Nasdaq shot up 309.78 points or 2.9 percent to 11,102.45 and the S&P 500 jumped 93.76 points or 2.5 percent to 3,901.06.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index inched up by 0.2 percent and the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices drifted lower on Friday as worries about the outlook for energy demand resurfaced due to increased Covid-19 restrictions in parts of China. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December slumped $1.18 or 1.3 percent at $87.90 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained more than 3 percent in the week.