TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japan stock market has finished higher in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day losing streak in which it had tumbled almost 1,000 points or 2.8 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 37,740-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, thanks to upbeat employment data out of the United States. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply higher and the Asian bourses figure to follow the latter lead.
The Nikkei finished modestly higher on Friday as the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers ended mostly in the green.
For the day, the index climbed 187.12 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 37,741.61 after trading between 37,590.42 and 37,756.15.
Among the actives, Nissan Motor accelerated 1.27 percent, while Mazda Motor strengthened 1.55 percent, Toyota Motor perked 0.06 percent, Honda Motor climbed 1.30 percent, Softbank Group fell 0.24 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial collected 0.51 percent, Mizuho Financial improved 0.79 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial added 0.53 percent, Mitsubishi Electric rose 0.22 percent, Sony Group advanced 1.13 percent, Panasonic Holdings stumbled 2.37 percent and Hitachi was up 0.12 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained in the green throughout the trading day, ending near session highs.
The Dow surged 443.13 points or 1.05 percent to finish at 42,762.87, while the NASDAQ rallied 231.50 points or 1.20 percent to close at 19,529.95 and the S&P 500 gained 61.06 points or 1.03 percent to end at 6,000.36.
The rally on Wall Street followed the release of the closely watched Labor Department report showing slightly stronger than expected U.S. job growth in May.
The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment shot up by 139,000 jobs in May after jumping by a downwardly revised 147,000 jobs in April. Economists had expected employment to increase by about 130,000 jobs.
The modestly bigger than expected increase in employment helped offset concerns about the strength of the economy following some recent downbeat data.
Crude oil prices move higher on Friday in response to the better-than-expected jobs data. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was up $1.21 to $64.58 per barrel; it was up 6 percent for the week.
Closer to home, Japan will release Q1 numbers for gross domestic product this morning. GDP is expected to slip 0.2 percent on quarter and rise 0.5 percent on year after adding 0.6 percent on quarter and 2.2 percent on year in the three months prior.
Japan also will see April figures for current account and May results for bank lending and for the eco watchers survey. The current account showed a surplus of 3.678 trillion yen in March. Overall bank lending was up 2.4 percent on year in Aoril, while the eco watchers score was 42.6.
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