Japanese Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - Recouping the losses in the previous session, the Japanese stock market is modestly higher on Friday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark Nikkei 225 is moving a tad above the 33,500 level, with most sectors showing a mixed trend amid the lack of any major cues.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 79.24 points or 0.24 percent to 33,503.65, after touching a high of 33,529.82 earlier. Japanese stocks closed modestly lower on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.2 percent and Toyota is declining almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 2 percent, while Tokyo Electron is losing almost 1 percent and Screen Holdings is declining 2.5 percent.

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

Among major exporters, Sony is down almost 2 percent and Canon is edging down 0.1 percent, while Panasonic is edging up 0.1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is gaining more than 1 percent.

Among other major gainers, Hitachi is gaining more than 3 percent, while Japan Post Holdings, Hoya and Sapporo Holdings are adding almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Asahi Group is losing more than 4 percent.

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

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Thursday after moving sharply higher over the past few sessions. The major averages spent most of the session modestly below the unchanged line but ended the day narrowly mixed.

The Dow closed down 45.74 points or 0.1 percent at 34,945.47, while the Nasdaq crept up 9.84 points or 0.1 percent to 14,113.67 and the S&P 500 inched up 5.36 points or 0.1 percent to a more than two-month closing high of 4,508.24.

The major European markets also ended mixed on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slumped by 1.0 percent and the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.6 percent, although the German DAX Index bucked the downtrend and edged up by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Thursday on fears of a likely drop in energy demand after soft data from the U.S., Europe and Asia raised worries about an economic slowdown. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December tumbled $3.76 or 4.9 percent at $72.90 a barrel.