The Japanese stock market is higher on Friday, extending gains from the previous session, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 breaking above the 29,000 mark, following positive cues overnight from Wall Street on better-than-expected labor market data.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 414.71 points or 1.44 percent to 29,144.59, after touching a high of 29,240.74 in early trades. Japanese shares closed higher on Thursday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 1 percent, while Fast Retailing is edging down almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is adding almost 1 percent and Toyota is also gaining more than 2 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is adding more than 3 percent and Tokyo Electron is up almost 2 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are adding almost 2 percent each.
The major exporters are mixed. Mitsubishi Electric, Canon and Sony are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Panasonic is gaining almost 1 percent.
Among the other major gainers, IHI Corp. is gaining almost 5 percent and Isuzu Motors is adding more than 4 percent, while Hitachi Construction, Aeon Corp. and Mazda Motors are up almost 4 percent. Minebea Mitsumi, Keisei Electric Railway, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Denso Corp., Yamaha Motor and Hino Motors are adding more than 3 percent each.
Conversely, Citizen Watch, Tokai Carbon, Nikon and Mitsui E&S Holdings are losing more than 1 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 109 yen-range on Friday.
On Wall Street, stocks showed a significant turnaround over the course of the trading day on Thursday. The major averages all bounced well off their lows of the session and into positive territory.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a substantial recovery, ending the day up 15.79 points or 0.1 percent at 12,977.68 after tumbling by as much as 1.4 percent. The Dow also climbed 199.42 points or 0.6 percent to 32,619.48 and the S&P 500 rose 20.38 points or 0.5 percent to 3,909.52.
Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day mixed. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both inched up by 0.1 percent.
Crude oil prices pulled back sharply on Thursday, weighed down by worries about the outlook for energy demand due to the extension of lockdown measures in several countries. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended lower by $2.62 or 4.3% at $58.56 a barrel.
Market Analysis
Japanese Market Extending Gains
2021-03-26 02:28:32
