The Japanese stock market experienced significant growth on Friday, bolstered by overall positive signals from global markets. The primary stock market index, the Nikkei 225, exceeded the 38,400 level, with most sectors, particularly exporter and financial stocks, seeing gains.
The Nikkei 225 Index rose by 302.52 points or 0.79% to 38,460.46, reaching a new 34-year high of 38,865.06 after the previous day's remarkable performance. Industry giants such as SoftBank Group saw a slight loss of more than 1 percent, while Uniqlo's operator, Fast Retailing, saw gains of over 1 percent. Automotive companies Honda and Toyota also experienced gains of almost 1 percent.
Tech companies Advantest and Tokyo Electron saw minor increases between 0.1 to 0.2 percent each. In contrast, Screen Holdings experienced a substantial drop of nearly 7 percent.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial gained more than 1 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial both saw gains close to 2 percent each.
Prominent exporters Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric both saw gains of almost 1 and 3 percent, respectively. Camera manufacturer Canon increased by over 2 percent, while Sony experienced a slight loss of over 2 percent.
Significant gains were also evident in companies like Resonac Holdings, BANDAI NAMCO, and Rakuten Group, which soared up to 7 and 6 percent, respectively. Olympus, NEXON, and Dai-ichi Life also advanced by more than 4 percent each.
On the other hand, IT company Trend Micro plummeted by nearly 15 percent, and semiconductor company Sumco dropped by more than 5 percent.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar traded in the lower 150 yen-range on Friday. The optimistic environment carried over to Wall Street, reflected in the S&P 500 reaching a new record closing high.
European markets also demonstrated a positive trend, with the French CAC 40 Index advancing by 0.9 percent, the German DAX Index increasing by 0.6 percent, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbing by 0.4 percent.
Crude oil futures ended higher on Thursday as the dollar weakened due to lower retail sales data. This raised expectations of a possible rate cut by the Federal Reserve in June. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March increased $1.39 or 1.8 percent, closing at $78.03 a barrel.
