Japanese Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading slightly higher on Monday, reversing the losses in the previous session. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling to stay a tad above the 39,500 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday, with gains in some index heavyweights, exporters and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 41.91 or 0.11 percent at 39,512.35, after touching a high of 39,632.17 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly lower on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.1 percent and Toyota is also edging up 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Tokyo Electron is adding almost 1 percent and Advantest is gaining almost 2 percent, while Screen Holdings is edging down 0.5 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging down 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is losing almost 1 percent.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Panasonic is gaining almost 4 percent, Canon is up almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is adding more than 1 percent. Sony is flat.

Among other major gainers, Socionext is gaining more than 6 percent and Fujikura is adding almost 4 percent, while Fujikura, Isuzu Motors and Fuji Electric are advancing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Yamato Holdings is losing almost 3 percent.

In economic news, the value of core machine orders in Jaan was up a seasonally adjusted 2.1 percent on month in October, the Cabinet Office said on Monday - coming in at 869.8 billion yen. That beat forecasts for an increase of 1.2 percent following the 0.7 percent decline in September.

On a yearly basis, core machine orders climbed 5.6 percent - again exceeding expectations for a gain or 0.7 percent after slumping 4.8 percent in the previous month. For the fourth quarter of 2024, core machine orders are seen higher by 5.7 percent on quarter and 8.0 percent on year.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 153 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Friday after failing to sustain an early move to the upside. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing narrowly mixed.

The Dow dipped 86.06 points or 0.2 percent to 43,828.06, closing lower for the seventh consecutive session. The S&P 500 edged down 0.16 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 6,051.09, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq inched up 23.88 points or 0.1 percent to 19,926.72.

Meanwhile, the major European markets showed more modest moves to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.2 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both edged down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices settled higher on Friday as supply worries resurfaced following additional sanctions on Iran and Russia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January closed up $1.27 or about 1.8 percent at $71.29 a barrel.