Japanese Market Modestly Higher

The Japanese stock market is modestly higher on Friday, extending the slight gains in the previous session, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 breaking back above the 29,000 mark, following the broadly positive cues overnight from Wall Street. Traders continue to be upbeat following the recent positive comments on the economy from the Bank of Japan and the lifting of the COVID-19 state of emergency in most major areas.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 175.70 points or 0.61 percent to 29,050.93, after touching a high of 29,174.17 earlier. Japanese shares closed marginally higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.4 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining almost 1 percent, while Toyota is flat.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining more than 1 percent and Tokyo Electron is adding almost 1 percent, while Screen Holdings is losing almost 1 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging up 0.5 percent, while Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are edging up 0.2 percent each.

Among major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is edging down 0.2 percent, while Sony and Canon are gaining almost 1 percent each. Panasonic is adding more than 4 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Mazda Motor is gaining more than 6 percent, Fujikura is adding almost 5 percent, Mitsui E&S Holdings is up almost 4 percent and Nippon Steel is rising more than 3 percent. JFE Holdings, Kobe Steel, Hitachi and Mitsubishi Materials is adding almost 3 percent each, while Omron, Mitsui Chemicals, Tokai Carbon, Inpex, Shiseido and Mitsubishi Motors are all gaining more than 2 percent each.

Conversely, Eisai is losing almost 4 percent, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines is down almost 3 percent and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is declining more than 2 percent, while Secom and Nippon Yusen are lower by almost 2 percent each.

In economic news, overall consumer prices in Tokyo were flat on year in June, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday. That exceeded expectations for a decline of 0.1 percent following the 0.4 percent decline in May. Core CPI, which excludes volatile food prices, also was unchanged on a yearly basis versus forecasts for a decline of 0.1 percent after slipping 0.2 percent in the previous month. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, overall inflation was up 0.3 percent and core CPI rose 0.1 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 110 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Thursday following the lackluster performance seen in the previous sessions. With the upward move on the day, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs.

The major averages finished the day off their best levels of the session but still firmly positive. The Dow jumped 322.58 points or 1 percent to 34,196.82, the Nasdaq advanced 97.98 points or 0.7 percent to 14,369.71 and the S&P 500 climbed 24.65 points or 0.6 percent to 4,266.49.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.2 percent, the German DAX Index advanced by 0.9 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil futures settled slightly higher Thursday, continuing to benefit from data that showed a larger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended up $0.22 or 0.3 percent at $73.30 per barrel.

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