RTTN: Japanese Market Ends In Positive Territory Amid Cautious Trading
(RTTNews) - The Japanese market ended Friday's trading session in positive territory with modest gains amid cautiously optimistic trading amid hopes of sustained economic recovery in the world's largest economy and biggest trading partner, the US. Optimism about better than expected non-farm payroll numbers for December in the US, slated for release later in the day, more than offset weak trading cues from the previous session on Wall Street.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index rose 11.28 points, or 0.1%, to 10,541.04, while the broader Topix index of all First Section issues rose 1.91 points, or 0.2%, to 926.42
On the economic front, official data revealed that Japanese residents were net buyers of foreign bonds in the week ended January 1, while foreigners were net sellers of Japanese bonds during the same period. As per the data, Japanese residents bought 588 billion yen in foreign bonds last week. A net 12.7 billion yen of foreign securities were bought by the Japanese during the same period. At the same time, foreigners sold a net 185.1 billion yen of Japanese bonds but purchased a net 23.5 billion yen of Japanese securities.
Light sweet crude oil futures for February delivery was trading at $88.59 a barrel in electronic trading, up $0.21 per barrel from previous close at $88.38 a barrel in New York on Thursday.
Automotive stocks ended in positive territory on optimism about economic recovery in the US. Toyota Motor Corp. gained 2.22%, Suzuki Motor Corp. advanced 1.86%, Nissan Motor Co. surged up 4.36%. Isuzu Motors soared 4.92%, Honda Motor Co added 0.31% and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. rose 1.65%.
Mixed trading was witnessed among the real estate stocks. Mitsui Fudosan advanced 1.07%, Sumitomo Realty & Development added 0.40% and Tokyo Takemono edged higher by 0.25%. However, Mitsubishi Estate Co. ended in negative territory with a loss of 0.46%, and Heiwa Real Estate declined 1.40%.
Mixed trading was also witnessed among stocks of securities firms. Nomura Holdings ended in positive territory with a gain of 0.18%. Mizuho Securities managed to end unchanged from previous close. However, Matsui Securities ended in negative territory with a loss of 0.33% and Daiwa Securities Group declined 1.33%.
In the U.S., stocks saw a mixed close on Thursday, with traders largely staying on the sidelines ahead of Friday's December jobs report. A pickup in weekly jobless claims levels reported in the morning saw a muted reaction, while a pullback in the retail sector was seen on the heels of lukewarm December sales figures. The major averages remained stuck on opposite sides of the unchanged line going into the close, ending the session mixed. While the Nasdaq ended the day up 7.69 points or 0.3% at 2,710, the Dow fell 27.55 points or 0.2% to 11,695 and the S&P 500 slipped 2.71 points or 0.2% to 1,274.
