The Japanese stock market is rising on Monday, with a weaker yen boosting exporters' shares. Nevertheless, investors are cautious as they await the start of Brexit talks between the UK and the European Union later in the day.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 112.00 points or 0.56 percent to 20,055.26, off a high of 20,086.54 earlier.
The major exporters are mostly higher. Toshiba is gaining more than 2 percent, Sony is rising almost 2 percent and Canon is adding almost 1 percent, while Panasonic is down 0.6 percent.
Among automakers, Toyota is advancing 1 percent, while Honda is down 0.3 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding 0.4 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is up 0.2 percent.
In the oil space, Inpex is gaining almost 1 percent and JXTG Holdings is losing 0.4 percent.
Among the major gainers, Furukawa Electric is rising almost 3 percent, Toho Co is higher by 2.5 percent and DeNA is advancing more than 2 percent. On the flip side, Trend Micro is down more than 2 percent and Nippon Yusen is lower by almost 2 percent.
In economic news, the Ministry of Finance said that Japan posted a merchandise trade deficit of 203.367 billion yen in May. That missed forecasts for a surplus of 43.3 billion yen following the 481.1 billion yen surplus in April.
Exports were up 14.9 percent on year to 5.851 trillion yen, shy of expectations for a gain of 16.0 percent. Imports climbed an annual 17.8 percent to 6.054 trillion yen versus expectations for 14.5 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 110 yen-range on Monday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed mixed on Friday amid another round of downbeat economic data and news that online giant Amazon snapped up Whole Foods.
The Dow added 24.38 points or 0.11 percent to 21,384.28, while the Nasdaq fell 13.74 points or 0.22 percent to 6,151.76 and the S&P gained 0.69 points or 0.03 percent to 2,433.15.
The European markets ended Friday's session with modest gains. Investors cheered the news that Greece's creditors reached an agreement to release the next tranche of funds to Athens. Investors also heaved a sigh of relief after a new poll showed French President Emmanuel Macron's centrist party is heading for a large majority in Sunday's legislative elections.
The DAX of Germany climbed 0.48 percent, the CAC 40 of France rose 0.89 percent and the FTSE 100 of the U.K. gained 0.60 percent.
Crude oil futures rose slightly on Friday to settle above the year's lows. July WTI oil gained $0.28 or 0.6 percent to close at $44.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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Market Analysis
May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.