Japanese Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - Adding to the gains in the previous five sessions, the Japanese stock market is slightly higher in choppy trading on Friday, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight. The benchmark Nikkei 225 is staying above the 40,900 level, with a mixed performance across most sectors as traders remain cautious ahead of the crucial US monthly jobs report later in the day.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 19.51 points or 0.05 percent to 40,933.16, after touching a high of 41,100.13 earlier. Japanese stocks closed significantly higher on Thursday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.2 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing more than 2 percent and Toyota is down more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 1 percent, while Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.3 percent and Screen Holdings is gaining almost 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging down 0.1 percent and Mizuho Financial is losing almost 1 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging up 0.2 percent.

Among major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is gaining more than 1 percent and Panasonic is adding almost 1 percent, while Canon is losing almost 2 percent. Sony is flat.

Among other major gainers, Isetan Mitsukoshi is gaining almost 4 percent and Mercari is adding more than 3 percent.

Conversely, Nippon Yusen K.K. is losing almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 161 yen-range on Friday.

On Wall Street, the markets were closed for Independence Day on Thursday after closing mostly higher on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on this day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.9 percent, the French CAC 40 Index improved 0.8 percent and the German DAX Index rose by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices fell in cautious trade Thursday on worries about demand against the backdrop of slowing U.S. growth. The downside remained capped after data showed a much larger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories in the week ended June 28th. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August were down half a percent at 83.43.