Japanese stock market is modestly higher on Monday, recouping the losses of the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 just ticking above the 27,700 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, even as traders continued to be concerned about the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus variants and the resultant expanded and extended state of emergencies.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 61.57 points or 0.22 percent at 27,702.71, after touching a high of 27,921.55 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Friday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down almost 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 1 percent and Toyota is edging up 0.5 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is edging up 0.1 percent, Screen Holdings is gaining 1.5 percent and Tokyo Electron is adding almost 1 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging up 0.1 percent, while Mizuho Financial is flat and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging down 0.2 percent.
The major exporters are higher, with Panasonic gaining more than 1 percent, Mitsubishi Electric rising 1.5 percent and Canon adding almost 1 percent, while Sony is edging down 0.3 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Nippon Steel and JFE Holdings are gaining more than 4 percent each, while Kobe Steel, Dowa Holdings, Toho Zinc and Mitsui Chemicals are adding almost 4 percent each. Nichirei, Pacific Metals, Toyota Tsusho, Keio and Hino Motors are all up more than 3 percent each. Tokyu Fudosan, Taiyo Yuden and Marui Group are rising almost 3 percent each.
Conversely, M3 is losing almost 2 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 109 yen-range on Monday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed firmly in positive territory on Friday, reacting to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks at the Jackson Hole symposium. The major averages all posted strong gains, with S&P and Nasdaq moving on to post fresh record closing highs.
The Dow ended the session with a gain of 242.68 points or 0.69 percent at 35,455.80, after climbing to a high of 35,479.18. The S&P 500 ended stronger by 39.37 points or 0.88 percent at 4,509.37, slightly off a new intra-day high of 4,513.22. The Nasdaq, which climbed to 15,144.48, settled at 15,129.50, gaining 183.69 points or 1.23 percent.
The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 gained 0.32 percent, Germany’s DAX ended 0.37 percent up and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.24 percent.
Crude oil futures settled sharply higher on Friday amid possible near-term disruptions in oil and natural gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico region due to the impact of Hurricane Ida. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended up by $1.32 or about 2% at $68.74 a barrel.
Market Analysis
Japanese Market Modestly Higher
2021-08-30 02:32:49
