TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is modestly higher on Friday, paring early gains following news that the U.S. has launched a cruise missile attack on Syria in response to a deadly chemical attack alleged to have been committed by President Bashar al-Assad's armed forces earlier this week. Meanwhile, the safe-haven yen also strengthened.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 30.16 points or 0.16 percent to 18,627.22, off a high of 18,785.73 earlier.
The major exporters are mostly higher despite a stronger yen. Panasonic is adding more than 1 percent and Canon is rising 0.4 percent, while Sony is down almost 1 percent.
Toshiba is gaining almost 5 percent following media reports that the company has received offers of at least 2 trillion yen or $18 billion for its memory chip unit.
Automakers Toyota is adding 0.6 percent and Honda is up 0.5 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is higher by 0.5 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is up 0.2 percent.
In the oil space, Inpex is rising more than 4 percent and JXTG Holdings is adding more than 1 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Seven & I Holdings is rising almost 4 percent after the retailer said it agreed to acquire more than 1,100 U.S. convenience stores and gas stations from Texas-based Sunoco LP for $3.3 billion. Yamato Holdings and IHI Corp are adding more than 3 percent each.
On the flip side, Screen Holdings is losing almost 3 percent and Sumco Corp is down more than 2 percent.
In economic news, Japan will provide February figures for labor cash earnings as well as preliminary February numbers for the leading and coincident indexes today.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the lower 110 yen-range on Friday.
On Wall Street, stocks managed to end modestly higher on Thursday s traders looked ahead to the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday. An upcoming meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping also kept some traders on the sidelines.
The Dow inched up 14.80 points or 0.1 percent to 20,662.95, the Nasdaq rose 14.47 points or 0.3 percent to 5,878.95 and the S&P 500 edged up 4.54 points or 0.2 percent to 2,357.49.
The major European markets turned in another mixed performance on Thursday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index inched up by 0.1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.6 percent.
Crude oil futures rose Thursday as a strong U.S. jobs market signaled imminent demand for energy products. WTI crude for May delivery climbed $0.55 or 1.08 percent to $51.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX