The Japanese stock market is significantly higher on Monday, recouping the losses in the previous two sessions, with the Nikkei 225 just below the 28,700 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, as data from the Bank of Japan’s Tankan Survey suggested the economy is gradually improving.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 261.48 points or 0.92 percent at 28,699.25, after hitting a low of 27,793.32 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly lower on Friday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding almost 3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.5 percent, while Toyota is losing more than 1 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 3 percent, while Tokyo Electron and Screen Holdings are adding more than 1 percent each. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is adding more than 1 percent.
The major exporters are mixed, with Panasonic edging down 0.1 percent, while Sony is gaining more than 1 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.4 percent and Canon is adding almost 1 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is gaining 4.5 percent and Tokio Marine is adding more than 3 percent, while T&D Holdings, Dai-ichi Life Holdings and Minebea Mitsumi are up almost 3 percent.
Conversely, Shinsei Bank is losing more than 2 percent.
In economic news, the value of core machine orders in Japan was up a seasonally adjusted 3.8 percent on month in October, the Cabinet Office said on Monday – coming in at 879.8 billion yen. That beat expectations for an increase of 2.1 percent following the flat reading in September. On a yearly basis, core machine orders rose 2.9 percent – shy of forecasts for a gain of 4.0 percent following the 12.5 percent jump in the previous month. For the fourth quarter of 2021, core machine orders are predicted to rise 3.1 percent both on quarter and on year. The total value of machinery orders received by 280 manufacturers operating in Japan increased 24.9 percent on month and 29.4 percent on year to 2,965.5 billion yen.
Further, the Bank of Japan’s quarterly Tankan Survey of business sentiment showed on Monday that large manufacturing in Japan was stagnant in the fourth quarter of 2021, with a diffusion index score of +18. That missed forecasts for a reading of +19 and was unchanged from three months ago. The outlook came in at +13, missing expectations for +19 and down from +14 in the previous quarter.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid-113 yen-range on Monday.
On Wall Street, stocks moved back to the upside during trading on Friday following the pullback seen in the previous session. The major averages fluctuated in morning trading but climbed more firmly into positive territory in the afternoon.
The major averages moved higher going into the close, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching new highs for the session. The Dow rose 216.30 points or 0.6 percent at 35,970.99, the Nasdaq climbed 113.23 points or 0.7 percent to 15,630.60 and the S&P 500 jumped 44.57 points or 1 percent to 4,712.02.
Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside over the course of the session. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index edged down by 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively.
Crude oil futures settled higher Friday on easing worries about the Omicron coronavirus variant’s impact on global economic growth. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended higher by $0.73 or 1 percent at $71.67 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 8.2 percent in the week, the best weekly returns since end August.
Market Analysis
Japanese Market Significantly Higher
2021-12-13 02:22:16
