The Japanese stock market experienced a modest rise on Friday during volatile trading, attempting to recover some of the losses from the past three sessions. After opening on a positive note and briefly dipping into negative territory, influenced by mixed signals from Wall Street overnight, the Nikkei 225 benchmark index stayed above the 36,700 mark. Gains in certain heavyweight stocks were partially countered by declines in exporters, financial, and technology sectors.
As of now, the Nikkei 225 Index has increased by 19.63 points or 0.05 percent, reaching 36,676.72, having earlier peaked at 36,898.28. On Thursday, Japanese stocks had significantly declined.
Major market players showed diverse performances: SoftBank Group declined by nearly 1 percent, whereas Fast Retailing, the operator of Uniqlo, rose by almost 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda dipped by 0.3 percent, while Toyota decreased by more than 2 percent.
Within the technology sector, Advantest and Screen Holdings both fell by over 2 percent, and Tokyo Electron saw a 2.5 percent drop.
In banking, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial both edged down by 0.3 percent, and Mizuho Financial lost almost 2 percent.
Leading exporters displayed a dip as well: Mitsubishi Electric lost nearly 2 percent, Sony declined by almost 3 percent, Canon fell by almost 1 percent, and Panasonic slipped by over 1 percent.
Some notable gainers included M3, surging by almost 7 percent, Shiseido, which gained over 5 percent, Aeon adding more than 4 percent, and Konami Group advancing by over 3 percent. Meiji Holdings and Sekisui House both rose by nearly 3 percent.
Conversely, Rakuten Group and Daikin Industries both fell by over 4 percent. SMC and Keyence experienced nearly 4 percent losses. Other significant decliners included Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Hitachi Zosen, Hitachi, Mercari, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, all down by more than 3 percent, while Disco, Mazda Motor, JFE Holdings, Nippon Steel, and Furukawa Electric each dipped by nearly 3 percent.
In economic news, Japan's average household spending dropped by a seasonally adjusted 1.7 percent in July to 290,931 yen, as reported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. This decline was steeper than the anticipated 0.2 percent drop and followed a 0.1 percent increase in June. Year-over-year, household spending inched up by just 0.1 percent, falling short of the 1.2 percent growth forecast, following a 1.4 percent contraction from the previous month. The average monthly household income increased by 5.5 percent year-over-year to 694,483 yen.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar was trading in the lower 143-yen range on Friday.
On Wall Street, the stock market showed mixed results on Thursday following a lackluster session. The S&P 500 closed lower for the third consecutive session, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day positively. The Nasdaq fluctuated around the unchanged line before closing up by 43.37 points or 0.3 percent, to 17,127.66. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 fell by 16.66 points or 0.3 percent to 5,503.41, and the Dow dropped 219.22 points or 0.5 percent to 40,755.75.
European markets also fell on Thursday. The French CAC 40 Index dropped by 0.9 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.3 percent, and the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent.
Crude oil prices decreased on Thursday due to demand outlook concerns, although the decline was somewhat mitigated by reports of OPEC postponing plans to boost production next month. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for October settled down by $0.05 at $69.15 a barrel, marking the lowest settlement in about nine months.
