TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is trading sharply higher on Friday, after a holiday, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 just below the 30,200 level, following the firmly positive cues overnight from Wall Street, as traders reacted sharply to the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement and easing concerns about the impact of Chinese real estate major Evergrande's debt woes.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 554.18 points or 1.87 percent to 30,193.58, after touching a high of 30,248.72 earlier. Japanese shares closed notably lower on Wednesday, while Thursday was a holiday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding 1.5 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 4 percent and Toyota is adding 2.5 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 1 percent, Screen Holdings is up 1.5 percent and Tokyo Electron is adding more than 1 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining almost 4 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is up almost 3 percent and Mizuho Financial is adding more than 1 percent.
Among major exporters, Panasonic is gaining 2.5 percent, Canon is adding more than 3 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is up almost 3 percent and Sony is higher by more than 4 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is gaining more than 8 percent, Nippon Yusen K.K. is adding almost 8 percent and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines is up almost 7 percent, while Olympus and Nexon are higher by more than 5 percent each. Bandai Namco Holdings, T&D Holdings, Dai-ichi Life Holdings and Marui Group are rising more than 4 percent each. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Takashimaya and Mazda Motor are gaining almost 4 percent.
Conversely, there are no major losers.
In economic news, overall inflation in Japan was down 0.4 percent on year in August, the Ministry of Communications and Internal Affairs said on Friday - shy of expectations for -0.3 percent, which would have been unchanged from the July reading. Core consumer prices, which exclude volatile food costs, were unchanged on year. That matched forecasts following the 0.2 percent annual decline in the previous month. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, overall inflation was down 0.2 percent and core CPI eased 0.1 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 110 yen-range on Friday.
On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher during trading on Thursday, adding to the strong gains posted in the previous session. With the continued advance, the major averages more than offset the sell-off seen on Monday, turning positive for the week.
The major average pulled back off their best levels in late-day trading but remained firmly positive. The Dow soared 506.50 points or 1.5 percent to 34,764.82, the Nasdaq jumped 155.40 points or 1 percent to 15,052.24 and the S&P 500 surged up 53.34 points or 1.2 percent to 4,448.98.
The major European markets moved to the upside on the day. The German DAX Index advanced by 0.9 percent and the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the uptrend and edged down by 0.1 percent.
Crude oil futures settled higher on Thursday amid prospects of a surge in energy demand and tighter supplies due to the slow recovery in the restoration of output in the Gulf of Mexico after recent hurricanes. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended up $1.07 or 1.5 percent at $73.30 a barrel.
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