The Japanese stock market is rising on Friday and the yen weakened against the U.S. dollar after Wall Street closed at record highs overnight amid mostly upbeat earnings news from big-name companies, a continued decline in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits and optimism about more fiscal stimulus.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 231.79 points or 0.82 percent to 28,573.74, after touching a high of 28,700.31 in early trades. Japanese shares ended lower on Thursday to snap a three-day winning streak.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is adding more than 1 percent and Fast Retailing is advancing almost 2 percent. In the tech space, Advantest is down 0.2 percent, while Tokyo Electron is adding 0.3 percent.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is rising 1 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding 0.6 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is advancing almost 2 percent and Honda is higher by more than 1 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Inpex is rising more than 2 percent after crude oil prices extended gains to a fourth straight session overnight.
The major exporters are mostly lower despite a weaker yen. Panasonic is declining more than 1 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is lower by 1 percent and Canon is down 0.6 percent, while Sony is higher by almost 2 percent.
Nidec said it has agreed to acquire Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Machine Tool Co. Ltd., a producer of equipment for automotive gears, from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. for about 30 billion yen. Shares of Nidec are adding almost 1 percent, while Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is losing almost 4 percent.
Among the other major losers, Furukawa Electric is tumbling more than 9 percent, while Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha and Oki Electric Industry are losing more than 4 percent each.
On the economic front, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said that the average of household spending in Japan was down 0.6 percent on year in December, coming in at 315,007 yen. That beat forecasts for a decline of 2.4 percent following the 1.1 percent increase in November.
Japan will also see preliminary December numbers for its leading and coincident index today.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid 105 yen-range on Friday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed at record highs on Thursday amid easing concerns about speculative trading and following mostly upbeat earnings news from big-name companies. Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to a report from the Labor Department showing a continued decline in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended January 30.
The Dow surged up 332.26 points or 1.1 percent to 31,055.86, the Nasdaq jumped 167.20 points or 1.2 percent to 13,777.74 and the S&P 500 shot up 41.57 points or 1.1 percent to 3,871.74.
The major European markets mostly moved to the upside on Thursday. The French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index advanced by 0.8 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively, although the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index bucked the uptrend and edged down by 0.1 percent.
Crude oil futures extended gains to a fourth straight session, on continued optimism that crude oil supplies will drop thanks to OPEC and its allies’ commitment to reduce output to stabilize the oil market. WTI crude added $0.54 or about 1 percent to close at $56.23 a barrel.
Market Analysis
Japanese Market Rises
2021-02-05 01:50:56
