Japanese Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is significantly higher on Friday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 moving above the 29,300 level to 17-month highs, following the mixed cues from global markets overnight, boosted by gains in technology and consumer stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 224.15 points or 0.77 percent to 29,350.87, after touching a high of 29,408.06 earlier. Japanese stocks closed slightly higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 4 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining almost 4 percent and Toyota is adding more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining more than 3 percent, Screen Holdings is adding almost 3 percent and Tokyo Electron is up more than 2 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are losing almost 1 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.2 percent.

Among major exporters, Canon is edging up 0.5 percent and Sony is gaining almost 2 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is losing more than 1 percent and Panasonic is edging down 0.3 percent. Among the other major gainers, Kobe Steel is skyrocketing almost 14 percent and Sumitomo Realty & Development is soaring 8.5 percent, while Konami Group and Sapporo Holdings are surging more than 5 percent each. Tokai Carbon, Nissan Motor and Taiheiyo Cement are advancing more than 4 percent each, while Renesas Electronics is gaining almost 4 percent. Olympus and Hoya are adding more than 3 percent each, while Kao, Keyence and Oji Holdings are up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Casio Computer and Sharp are plunging more than 7 percent each, while Takeda Pharmaceutical and ENEOS Holdings are losing almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, the M2 money stock in Japan was up 2.5 percent on year in April, the Bank of Japan said on Friday - coming in at 1,232.4 trillion yen. That was in line with expectations and unchanged from the March reading following a downward revision from 2.6 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid-134 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks came under pressure in early trading on Thursday but regained ground over the course of the session. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq reaching positive territory.

The Nasdaq rose 22.06 points or 0.2 percent to 12,328.51, its best closing level in over eight months. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 dipped 7.02 points or 0.2 percent to 4,130.62 and the Dow slid 221.82 points or 0.7 percent to 33,309.51.

The major European markets also turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index eased by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Thursday amid uncertainty about the outlook for energy demand, while a firm dollar also weighed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended lower by $1.69 or 2.3 percent at $70.87 a barrel.