The Japanese stock market experienced a significant surge on Monday, countering the losses from the previous trading session. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index moved substantially above the 39,500 mark, influenced by varied signals from Wall Street on Friday. The rise was propelled by gains across all sectors, particularly led by major companies, exporters, and technology stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index climbed by 656.74 points, or 1.73%, reaching 39,570.66, after previously hitting a high of 38,658.74. It should be noted that Japanese stocks ended significantly lower on Friday.
Among the market heavyweights, SoftBank Group saw an increase of over 3%, while Fast Retailing, the operator of Uniqlo, rose by 1.5%. In the automotive sector, Honda advanced by 3.5%, and Toyota saw an increase of nearly 4%.
The technology sector also saw notable increases, with Screen Holdings up nearly 4%, Advantest advancing almost 5%, and Tokyo Electron increasing by more than 3%.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial rose by almost 1%, whereas Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial made modest gains of 0.1% to 0.3% each.
Major exporters mainly traded higher, with Canon and Sony each gaining over 2%, Mitsubishi Electric adding 1.5%, and Panasonic advancing by almost 2%.
In terms of other significant gainers, Chugai Pharmaceutical soared by nearly 10%, Kikkoman surged almost 6%, and Konica Minolta rose by over 5%. Lasertec and Renesas Electronics both improved by nearly 5%, Disco increased by over 4%, and Tokyo Electric Power along with Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha each gained nearly 4%. Isetan Mitsukoshi, M3, and Mitsubishi Motors each witnessed gains of more than 3%.
In contrast, Olympus experienced a substantial drop of approximately 7%, IHI declined by 4.5%, while Shin-Etsu Chemical and Japan Steel Works each fell by about 4%. Furukawa Electric decreased by 2.5%.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar was trading in the upper 153 yen range on Monday.
Looking at Wall Street, Friday's trading resulted in another mixed performance following Thursday's divergent closures. While the tech-heavy Nasdaq built on its previous strong gains, the Dow continued its downward trend for the fifth consecutive session.
The Nasdaq concluded the day up by 103.12 points or 0.6% at 18,518.61, whereas the Dow dropped 259.96 points or 0.6% to 42,114.40. The S&P 500 saw a slight decrease of 1.74 points, representing less than a tenth of a percent, closing at 5,808.12.
In Europe, the major markets experienced a narrowly mixed outcome. The German DAX Index edged up by 0.1%, the French CAC 40 Index decreased by 0.1%, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.3%.
On the commodities front, crude oil prices rose sharply on Friday due to concerns over geopolitical tensions and potential OPEC output adjustments. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December settled at $71.78 a barrel, increasing by $1.69 or 2.3%. Over the week, WTI crude futures gained a total of 3.8%.
