Japan stocks are poised for a modestly higher open on Friday, as traders see more gains on Wall Street while awaiting Japan's GDP report minutes before the market open.
Japan's market rose on Thursday, as Portugal's successful debt auction lifted the hopes of exporters. A weakening yen was another plus for the exporters, as the Japan currency fell as low as 84.01 to the US dollar.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 average added 73.79 points or 0.82 percent to close at 9,098.39.
The broader TOPIX index gained 5.85 points or 0.71 percent to close at 826.84.
Trading volume on the First Section was reported by the Tokyo Stock Exchange at a low 1.303 billion shares.
There were 1,128 stocks closing higher, 369 lower and 151 unchanged.
Of the 33 industry sectors traced by the TSE, 29 posted gains. The biggest gainers were the Rubber Products, Precision Instruments, Electrical Appliances, Iron/Steel, Glass/Ceramics and Nonferrous Metals sectors. The biggest loser was the Real Estate sector.
Among the major exporters, Canon was up 1.1 percent, Toyota Motor was up 2.2 percent and robotics maker Fang Ltd was up 1.2 percent.
In the real estate sector, Mitsubishi Estate closed down 1.9 percent, Tokyu Land Corp was down 1.2 percent and Mitsui Fudosan was down 3.6 percent.
In overseas trading, U.S. stocks moved modestly higher on Thursday. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 10,415.24, a gain of 28.23 points or 0.27 percent. The Nasdaq Composite index was up 7.33 points or 0.33 percent at 2,236.20 and the Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 5.31 points or 0.48 percent at 1,104.18.
Most of the other major Asia/Pacific region markets closed higher on Thursday.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 78.41 points or 0.37 percent at 21,167.27.
The Shanghai Composite index in China was down 38.94 points or 1.44 percent at 2,656.35.
In India, the BSE 30/SENSEX index was up 132.95 points or 0.71 percent at 18,799.66.
Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index was up 13.74 points or 0.43 percent at 3,230.89.
In South Korea, the KOSPI/Seoul Composite index rose 5.14 points or 0.29 percent to 1,784.36.
The Taiwan Weighted Index was down 15.77 points or 0.20 percent at 7,835.54.
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