Japanese Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - Recouping the losses in the previous two sessions, the Japanese stock market is sharply higher on Friday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark Nikkei 225 is moving above the 39,800 level to fresh all-time highs, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 672.37 points or 1.72 percent to 39,832.56, after touching a high of 39,880.01 earlier. Japanese stocks closed slightly lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 1 percent and Toyota is adding almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Screen Holdings are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is advancing more than 4 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are gaining more than 1 percent each.

Among major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is gaining more than 1 percent, Canon is edging up 0.3 percent, Sony is adding 1.5 percent and Panasonic is advancing almost 4 percent.

Among other major gainers, Japan Steel Works is gaining more than 5 percent, while Tokyu, Nikon, NEXON and Renesas Electronics are adding more than 4 percent each. DeNA and Mitsubishi Estate are advancing almost 4 percent, while Tokyo Tatemono, Idemitsu Kosan, Recruit Holdings, Mercari, Secom and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust are rising more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In economic news, the unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 2.4 percent in January, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday. That was in line with expectations and unchanged from the December reading. The jobs-to-applicant ratio was 1.27 - also matching forecasts and steady from the previous month.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 150 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Thursday but largely maintained a positive bias before ending the day mostly higher. The major averages all moved to the upside, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 reaching new record closing highs.

The Nasdaq and S&P 500 reached new highs for the session in late-day trading before giving back some ground going into the close. The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 144.18 points or 0.9 percent to 16,091.92, the S&P 500 climbed 26.51 points or 0.5 percent to 5,06.27 and the narrower Dow closed up 47.37 points or 0.1 percent at 38,996.39.

Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day mixed. While the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.3 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index rose by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Thursday as concerns about reduced fuel demand outweighing hopes for the likely extension of production cuts by OPEC. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April fell $0.28 or 0.4 percent at $78.26 a barrel.