Stocks surged higher in early trades in the Japanese market on Friday as investors indulged in some hectic buying across the board, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street following a Fed stimulus.
Automobile, bank, steel, non-ferrous metals, precision instruments, glass & ceramics and rubber stocks opened on a buoyant note and are still mostly trading higher. Electric power, transport and chemicals stocks got off to a mixed start.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which rose to 9,141.4, is currently trading at 9,122.8, up 127.7 points or 1.4 percent from its previous close.
Sumitomo Metal Industries jumped 7 percent following a sharp rise in copper prices. Tokyo Tatemono, Fuji Electric, Kobe Steel, Pacific Metals, Nippon Electric Glass, Mitsubishi Materials, Mitsui OSK Lines, Tosoh Corp., Mitsui Chemicals and JFE Holdings are trading higher by 5 to 6.5 percent.
Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corp., MS&AD Insurance, Toho Zinc, Sumitomo Chemical, Inpex Corp., Dai-ichi Life Insurance, Heiwa Real Estate, Asahi Glass and Mitsumi Electric are all trading higher by over 4 percent.
Advantest Corp. (ATE), Sumitomo Metal Industries, Canon Inc., Sony Corp (SNE)., Pioneer Corp., Nikon Corp., GS Yuasa, JX Holdings, Panasonic Corp (PC) and Nippon Steel are also trading sharply higher.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MTU) is up 3.3 percent, SMFG is gaining about 3 percent, Mizuho Financial (MFG) is adding 1.6 percent and Shinsei Bank is up with a gain of 2 percent.
Among automobile stocks, Hino Motors, Mitsubishi Motors and Suzuki Motor are up 1.5 to 2.5 percent and Mazda Motor is gaining more than 3 percent, while Toyota Motor (TM) and Nissan Motor are trading nearly a percent up.
Seven & I Holdings Ltd., shares are trading lower by over 2 percent amid worries about a likely fall in earnings.
Nippon Meat Packers, Maruho Nichiro Holdings, Obayashi Corp., Sharp Corp. and Kansai Electric Power are also trading weak.
On the economic front, data on industrial production in July is due for release during the day. Little change is expected from last month's preliminary reading for a 1.2 percent decline on month and a 1.0 percent fall on year.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the upper 77 yen range in early deals in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 77.57 to the dollar.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan are trading sharply higher. Shanghai, Malaysia and New Zealand are also up with strong gains, while New Zealand is trading modestly higher.
On Wall Street, stocks ended sharply higher, as traders reacted positively to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement. The Fed announced a plan to increase policy accommodation by purchasing additionally agency mortgage-based securities at a pace of $40 billion per month.
The Dow jumped 206.5 points or 1.6 percent to 13,539.9, the Nasdaq spurted 41.5 points or 1.3 percent to 3,155.8 and the S&P 500 ended up 23.4 points or 1.6 percent, at 1,460.
Major European markets ended mixed on Thursday. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index moved up by 0.7 percent, while the German DAX index and the French CAC index lost 0.5 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.
by RTT Staff Writer
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