Japanese Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is modestly higher on Monday, recouping the losses in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 28,600 level, following the positive cues from global markets on Friday, with notable gains in heavyweight stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 67.53 or 0.24 percent at 28,631.90, after touching a high of 28,680.65 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining almost 1 percent and Toyota is edging up 0.1 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is losing more than 2 percent, while Advantest and Tokyo Electron are declining more than 1 percent each.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are edging down 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is flat.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Mitsubishi Electric is flat, while Sony, Panasonic and Canon are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each.

Among the other major gainers, Chugai Pharmaceutical is gaining almost 4 percent and ANA Holdings is adding almost 3 percent.

Conversely, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is losing almost 4 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 134 yen-range on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction throughout the trading day on Friday after ending Thursday's session mostly lower. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually ended the session slightly higher. The Dow crept up 22.34 points or 0.1 percent to 33,808.96, the Nasdaq edged up 12.90 points or 0.1 percent to 12,072.46 and the S&P 500 inched up 3.73 points or 0.1 percent to 4,133.52.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged up by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both rose by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday, buoyed by fairly strong data on private sector activity in the U.K. and eurozone. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.50 or 0.7 percent at $77.87 a barrel. WTI lost 5.5 percent last week.