TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is significantly higher on Monday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 28,800 level, following the broadly positive cues from global markets on Friday, on optimism for economic growth and easing inflation after data showed a much bigger than expected improvement in U.S. consumer sentiment in August.
Japan's annualized gross domestic product also expanded in the second quarter, but missed expectations.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 292.72 or 1.03 percent at 28,839.70, after touching a high of 28,857.86 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Friday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining almost 2 percent and Toyota is flat.
In the tech space, Advantest is edging up 0.5 percent, while Tokyo Electron and Screen Holdings are gaining almost 1 percent each. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are flat, while Mizuho Financial is edging down 0.4 percent.
The major exporters are mixed, with Sony and Mitsubishi Electric gaining more than 1 percent each, while Panasonic is edging down 0.3 percent and Canon is losing almost 1 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Daiichi Sankyo is skyrocketing more than 14 percent and Trend Micro is gaining almost 4 percent, while Ebara and TDK are adding almost 3 percent each.
Conversely, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha and Citizen Watch are losing almost 4 percent each.
In economic news, Japan's gross domestic product expanded an annualized 2.2 percent on year in the second quarter of 2022, the Cabinet Office said in Monday's preliminary reading. That missed expectations for an increase of 2.5 percent following the upwardly revised 0.5 percent contraction in the previous three months (originally -1.0 percent). On a seasonally adjusted quarterly basis, GDP gained 0.5 percent - again shy of forecasts for 0.6 percent following the upwardly revised 0.1 percent decline in the three months prior (originally -0.2 percent).
Capital expenditure improved 1.4 percent on quarter, beating forecasts for an increase of 0.9 percent after shrinking 0.7 percent in Q1. Private consumption was up 1.1 percent on quarter, missing forecasts for 1.3 percent after gaining 0.1 percent in the previous quarter.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 133 yen-range on Monday.
On Wall Street, stocks showed a strong move back the upside during trading on Friday following the significant downturn seen over the course of Thursday's session. With the rally on the day, the major averages reached new three-month closing highs.
The major averages saw further upside going into the close, ending the session at their best levels of the day. The Dow jumped 424.38 points or 1.3 percent to 33,761.05, the Nasdaq surged 267.27 points or 2.1 percent to 13,047.19 and the S&P 500 shot up 72.88 points or 1.7 percent to 4,280.15.
The major European markets all also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index advanced by 0.7 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.5 percent and the French CAC 40 Index inched up by 0.1 percent.
Crude oil prices fell sharply on Friday after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) lowered its oil demand forecast for 2022. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended lower by $2.25 or 2.4 percent at $92.09 a barrel. For the week, WIT rose 3.5 percent.
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