The stock market in Japan ended mixed on Monday, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 index rising to a 8-week high and ending in positive territory while the broader Topix Index ended in negative territory with minor losses on concerns about the strength of the domestic economy. Positive closing on Wall Street in the previous session led by technology stocks and higher commodity prices, especially copper prices, as well as weakening of the local currency against the greenback lifted market sentiment.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index rose 41.42 points, or 0.41%, to 10,183. However, the broader Topix index of all First Section issues lost 2.11 points, or 0.24% to 891.
On the economic front, economic data released by the Ministry of Finance revealed that country's merchandise trade surplus rose to 373.9 billion yen during November, higher than economists' mean forecast of 300 billion yen rise in trade surplus for the month. The data further revealed that imports declined 16.8% during the month following 35.6% plunge in the previous month. Exports, on the other hand, revealed a 6.2% decline year-over-year during the month, better than the 23.2% decline reported for the previous year.
Separately, the Ministry of Trade, Economy & Industry revealed that the country's all industry activity climbed a seasonally adjusted 1.2% month-on-month in October, surpassing the 1% increase anticipated by the economists, compared to a downwardly revised 0.7% decrease in the previous month.
Light sweet crude oil futures for January delivery ended at $73.30 a barrel in electronic trading, down $0.06 per barrel from previous close at $73.36 a barrel in New York on Friday.
Technology related shares advanced on Wall Street gains. Tokyo Electron gained 2.60%, TDK Corp. added 0.92%, Advantest Corp. advanced 2.05%, Hitachi Ltd rose 1.15%, Kyocera Corp added 0.25% and Terumo Corp. climbed 0.75%.
Shipping stocks also ended in positive territory. Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd rose 2.36%, Mitsui OSK Lines added 0.63% and Nippon Yusen gained 1.77%.
Inpex Corp., engaged in oil exploration, advanced 1.94%. Showa Shell rose 2.88%, Nippon Oil Corp climbed 2.75% and Nippon Mining Holdings gained 3.00%.
Mixed trading was witnessed among the banking stocks. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial gained 2.38% on huge volumes. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial remained unchanged from previous close. However, Mizuho Financial declined 2.23% and Resona Holdings declined 1.54%.
Concerns about the strength of domestic recovery, however, dragged the broader Topix Index into negative territory.
East Japan Railway Co., declined 2.13%, and Kansai Electric Co., shed 1.17%. Airline stocks also ended in negative territory. All Nippon Airways declined 1.17% and Japan Airlines lost 2.88%.
In the U.S., stocks were able to eke out moderate gains on Friday after expiring stock options and bargain hunting prompted choppy trading during the majority of the session. The major averages all finished in positive territory by varied margins, moving back towards the yearly highs posted earlier this week. The Dow gained 20.63 points or 0.2% to 10,329, the Nasdaq advanced by 31.64 points or 1.5% to 2,212 and the S&P 500 rose by 6.31 points or 0.6% to 1,102.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.