The Japanese stock market rebounded strongly on Friday, recovering most of the losses it experienced in the previous trading session. This strong showing was largely driven by positive cues emanating from Wall Street. The notable overall gain, which had the benchmark Nikkei 225 trading above the 36,400 level, was led by technology stocks and some major index players.
The Nikkei 225 Index registered a substantial gain of 411.22 points or 1.14 percent, climbing to 36,422.68 points from the trading high of 36,441.09 it reached earlier. This marked a solid recovery from the significant loss it suffered on Thursday.
Notable market movers contributing to the uplift included SoftBank Group and Fast Retailing (Uniqlo's operator), both gaining over 1 percent. On the flip side, automakers Honda and Toyota, seemed to fumble marginally, recording a minor decline.
Staying in the tech sector, we saw substantial gains from companies like Advantest and Screen Holdings with an increase around 4 percent, while Tokyo Electron posted a 2 percent uptick.
On the banking front, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial all lost roughly 1 percent each. Mitsubishi Electric and Canon had moderate declines among the major exporters, while Sony and Panasonic had slight gains.
Other major gainers included NEXON, rocketing almost 22 percent, and Konica Minolta, soaring more than 11 percent. Also noteworthy was the significant growth shown by Mitsui Mining & Smelting, CyberAgent, and J. Front Retailing, all showing an increase of at least 4 percent.
On the other hand, Aozora Bank plummeted more than 15 percent, with Mitsubishi Motors and Hino Motors also on the decline. T&D Holdings and Dai-ichi Life Holdings were down almost 3 percent each.
The Bank of Japan reported that the country's monetary base had increased by 4.8 percent in January, totaling 668.019 trillion yen. However, this fell short of the expected 7.5 percent rise, dropping from the 8.2 percent observed in December. The adjusted monetary base dipped by 12.1 percent to 673.007 trillion yen.
In currency exchange, the US dollar traded in the lower 146 yen-range on Friday.
On Thursday, Wall Street had experienced a strong upswing in trading after the sell-off it had marked in the prior session. While the major European markets took a downward turn, the Dow, the Nasdaq, and the S&P 500 all recorded positive gains.
The crude oil futures saw a decline on Thursday, with negotiations on a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas conflict factoring into trading decisions. Despite this, the likely surge in energy demand helped cushion the fall in West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March, ending at $73.82 per barrel, a 2.7 percent decrease.
