Japanese Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is slightly higher in choppy trading on Monday, reversing the slight losses in the previous session. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying above the 40,900 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, with gains in some index heavyweights and exporter stocks partially offset by weakness in financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 23.89 or 0.06 percent at 40,936.26, after hitting a low of 40,785.71 and a high of 40,956.31 earlier. Japanese shares ended slightly lower on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing almost 2 percent and Toyota is declining almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is edging up 0.1 percent, while Advantest is edging down 0.5 percent and Tokyo Electron is losing almost 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.1 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing almost 1 percent and Mizuho Financial is down more than 1 percent.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Sony and Canon are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is gaining more than 1 percent. Panasonic is losing almost 1 percent.

Among other major losers, Hitachi Zosen is declining almost 4 percent, while Sumitomo Pharma, Isetan Mitsukoshi and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha are losing more than 3 percent each. MS&AD Insurance, Yaskawa Electricand Omron are down almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, SMC is gaining almost 3 percent.

In economic news, Japan posted a current account surplus of 2.849 trillion yen in May, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday. That exceeded expectations for a surplus of 2.07 trillion yen following the 2.52 trillion yen surplus in April.

Imports were up 9.3 percent on year to 9.241 trillion yen, while exports jumped 12.1 percent to 8.132 trillion yen for a trade deficit of 1.107 trillion yen. The capital account saw a deficit of 11.7 billion yen, while the financial account had a surplus of 1.258 trillion yen.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 160 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Friday, with the major averages all moving to the upside after turning in a mixed performance early in the session. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed higher for the fourth straight session, once again reaching new record closing highs.

The major averages reached new highs for the session going into the close of trading. The Nasdaq jumped 164.46 points or 0.9 percent to 18,352.76, the S&P 500 climbed 30.17 points or 0.5 percent to 5,567.19 and the Dow rose 67.87 points or 0.2 percent to 39,375.87.

Meanwhile, the major European markets finished the day mixed. While the German DAX Index inched up by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices slipped on Friday, but still posted their fourth straight weekly gain amid optimism about the outlook for demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down by $0.72 or 0.86 percent at $83.16 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained about 2 percent in the week.