The Japanese stock market is sharply higher on Monday, extending the modest gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 adding nearly 700 points to be just below the 29,600 level, following the positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, with traders upbeat on results of Japan’s lower house election.
The re-election of the ruling coalition will eliminate political and policy uncertainties and pave the way for fiscal stimulus.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 642.16 points or 2.22 percent at 29,534.85, after touching a high of 29,633.33 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Friday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining 3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding almost 5 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 2 percent and Toyota is adding more than 1 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is surging more than 6 percent, Screen Holdings is gaining more than 4 percent and Tokyo Electron is up more than 3 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are all gaining more than 1 percent each.
The major exporters are mostly higher, with Panasonic losing 1.5 percent, while Sony is gaining more than 5 percent and Canon is edging up 0.3 percent. Mitsubishi Electric is flat.
Among the other major gainers, Toyota Tsusho is gaining more than 6 percent, Japan Tobacco is adding almost 6 percent and Pacific Metals is up more than 4 percent, while Kikkoman, Shimizu and Hino Motors are higher by almost 4 percent each. Yaskawa Electric, Omron, Bandai Namco and Daikin Industries are up more than 3 percent each.
Conversely, Nomura Holdings is losing more than 7 percent.
In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Japan continued to expand in October, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from Jibun Bank showed on Monday with a Manufacturing PMI score of 53.2. That’s up from 51.5 in September 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 lower 114 yen-range on Monday.
On Wall Street, stocks showed a significant turnaround over the course of the trading session on Friday, recovering from an early move to the downside to end the day mostly higher. The rebound on the day lifted the major averages to new record closing highs.
The major averages ended the day just off their highs of the session. The Dow rose 89.08 points or 0.3 percent to 35,819.56, the Nasdaq climbed 50.27 points or 0.3 percent to 15,498.39 and the S&P 500 edged up 8.96 points or 0.2 percent to 4,605.38.
Meanwhile, the major European markets turned mixed over the course of the session. While the French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.2 percent.
Crude oil futures settled higher on Friday on hopes that OPEC and allies will decide to keep supply levels tight. West Texas International Crude oil futures for December rose $0.76 or 0.9 percent at $83.57 a barrel; WTI Crude futures gained more than 11 percent in October.
Market Analysis
Japanese Market Sharply Higher
2021-11-01 02:25:13
