TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is flat in choppy trading on Friday as worries about escalating tensions in the Middle East and a stronger safe-haven yen more than offset the positive sentiment generated by the overnight gains on Wall Street.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 6.12 points or 0.03 percent to 21,456.74, after touching a high of 21,497.82 in early trades. Japanese shares hit fresh six-week highs on Thursday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank is declining 0.4 percent and Fast Retailing is lower by 0.5 percent.
In the auto space, Honda Motor is rising 0.3 percent, while Toyota Motor is down 0.2 percent.
The major exporters are mostly higher despite a stronger yen. Mitsubishi Electric is advancing more than 1 percent, Canon is higher by almost 1 percent and Panasonic is up 0.6 percent, while Sony is edging down 0.1 percent.
Among tech stocks, Advantest is rising 0.7 percent and Tokyo Electron is higher by more than 1 percent each. In the oil sector, Japan Petroleum is gaining almost 4 percent and Inpex is rising more than 3 percent after crude oil prices jumped overnight.
Among banks, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is lower by 0.7 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is down 0.5 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Idemistsu Kosan is rising more than 4 percent, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is higher by more than 3 percent and Mitsui E&S Holdings is advancing 3 percent.
On the flip side, Isetan Mitsukoshi is losing almost 6 percent, Shiseido Co. is lower by almost 5 percent and Daiwa House Industry is declining more than 3 percent.
On the economic front, the Ministry of Communications and Internal Affairs said that overall consumer prices in Japan were up 0.7 percent on year in May. That was in line with expectations and down from 0.9 percent in April.
Japan also will see May numbers for department store sales and preliminary June data for the manufacturing PMI from Nikkei.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 107 yen-range on Friday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed higher on Thursday despite giving back some ground in mid-day trading after Iran shot down an unmanned U.S. surveillance drone. Trump later suggested the downing of the drone may have been unintentional but still refused to say whether the U.S. would retaliate, repeatedly saying, 'You'll find out.'
The Dow jumped 249.17 points or 0.9 percent to 26,753.17, the Nasdaq climbed 64.02 points or 0.8 percent to 8,051.34 and the S&P 500 surged up 27.72 points or 1 percent to 2,954.18.
The major European markets also moved to the upside on Thursday. While the German DAX Index climbed by 0.4 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index both rose by 0.3 percent.
Crude oil prices rose steeply on Thursday following an escalation in geopolitical tensions after Iran shot down a U.S. military drone over the Strait of Hormuz. WTI crude for July delivery spiked $2.89 or 5.4 percent to $56.65 a barrel on expiration day.
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