Japanese stock market is sharply higher on Monday, recouping most of the losses of the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 adding more than 400 points to be above the 27,700 level, ignoring the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, as traders are reacting positively to upbeat manufacturing data. However, the upside is limited amid continued concerns about the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus variants and the resultant state of emergencies.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 417.16 points or 1.53 percent at 27,700.75, after touching a high of 27,773.30 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Friday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 2 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 2 percent and Toyota is adding almost 2 percent.
The major exporters are higher, with Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric gaining more than 2 percent, while Sony is adding almost 1 percent and Canon is up more than 3 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 2 percent, while Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron are adding almost 3 percent each. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are edging up 0.3 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining almost 1 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Toto and Mitsui OSK Lines are gaining more than 8 percent each, while Ajinomoto and NGK Insulators are adding almost 8 percent each. Seiko Epson is rising more than 6 percent, while Nippon Yusen K.K., Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha and Japan Steel Works are up almost 6 percent. Nippon Steel and Denso are higher by more than 5 percent each, while NEC, Toyota Tsusho and Toyo Seikan Group Holdings are adding almost 5 percent.
Conversely, Mazda Motor is losing almost 6 percent, while West Japan Railway and Daiichi Sankyo are down almost 4 percent. OKUMA, Nomura Holdings and East Japan Railway are declining almost 2 percent each.
In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Japan continued to expand in July, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from Jibun Bank showed on Monday, with a manufacturing PMI score of 53.0. That’s up from 52.4 in June, and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 109 yen-range on Monday.
On Wall Street, stocks remained mostly lower over the course of the session on Friday after coming under pressure at the start of trading. With the pullback on the day, the major averages offset the strength seen in the previous session.
The major averages all finished the day firmly in negative territory. The Dow fell 149.06 points or 0.4 percent to 34,935.47, the Nasdaq slid 105.59 points or 0.7 percent to 14,672.68 and the S&P 500 dropped 23.89 points or 0.5 percent to 4,395.26.
The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.3 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.6 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.
Crude oil futures settled higher Friday amid hopes energy demand will grow faster than supply despite the resurgence in coronavirus infections across the globe. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended up by $0.33 or 0.5 percent at $73.95 a barrel. WTI Crude futures gained 2.6 percent in the week and 0.7 percent in July.
Market Analysis
Japanese Market Sharply Higher
2021-08-02 02:38:08
