TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - Japanese stock market is higher on Monday, extending gains of the previous four sessions, with the Nikkei 225 breaking above the 29,800 level, as investors continue to be upbeat about the prospects of a global economic recovers. The broad-based gains in the market are led by financial and automakers. The cues from Wall Street on Friday were mixed.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 106.06 points or 0.36 percent to 29,823.89, after touching a high of 29,884.73 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Friday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is down more than 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is advancing more than 3 percent and Toyota is up almost 2 percent.
The major exporters are also mostly higher. Panasonic is edging down 0.2 percent, while Sony and Mitsubishi Electric are edging up 0.2 percent each. Canon is gaining more than 1 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are losing almost 1 percent each. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is rising almost 3 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding more than 3 percent.
Shares in Rakuten Inc are soaring more than 18 percent after the Japanese e-commerce company agreed to sell a stake to postal and banking giant Japan Post Holdings Co Ltd. to strengthen an alliance forged last year between the two on logistics.
Among the other major gainers, Mitsui E&S Holdings is climbing more than 8 percent, and Kawasaki Kisen is gaining more than 6 percent. Nippon Yusen, Oki Electric Industry and JCG Holdings are adding more than 4 percent.
Conversely, Sharp is losing almost 7 percent and Konami Holdings is lower by almost 4 percent. Z Holdings and Japan Steel are declining more than 2 percent each. Shinsei Bank is down almost 2 percent.
In economic news, the value of core machine orders in Japan slipped a seasonally adjusted 4.5 percent on month in January, the Cabinet Office said on Monday - standing at 841.7 billion yen. That exceeded expectations for a decline of 5.5 percent following the upwardly revised 5.3 percent increase in December. On a yearly basis, core machine orders climbed 1.5 percent - again beating forecasts for a decline of 0.2 percent after spiking 11.8 percent in the previous month. The forecast for Q1 2021 core machine orders suggests a decline of 6.0 percent on quarter and 5.2 percent on year.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 109 yen-range on Monday.
On Wall Street, extending its winning streak to six consecutive sessions, the Dow showed a strong move to the upside during trading on Friday, The blue chip index jumped 293.05 points or 0.9 percent to a new record closing high of 32,778.64.
The S&P 500 also inched up 4.00 points or 0.1 percent to a new record closing high of 3,943.34, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed well off its worst levels of the day but still closed down 78.81 points or 0.6 percent at 13,319.86.
The major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index fell by 0.5 percent, while the French CAC 40 Index edged up by 0.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.4 percent.
Crude oil prices fluctuated on Friday as traders remained optimistic about the outlook for energy demand but seemed reluctant to continue pushing oil prices higher. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery closed down $0.41 at $65.61 a barrel.
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