Japanese stock market outlook for monday April 18 2011

Japanese stock market outlook for monday April 18 2011 : The Japanese stock market opened higher on Monday with investors indulging in some brisk buying, tracking a positive lead from Wall Street. However, the buoyancy proved short lived and the market turned weak as a stronger yen prompted a section of investors to press sales at several front line counters.

Financial, oil, mining, manufacturing and precision instrument stocks edged higher in opening trades but are well off their highs now. Construction, automobile, non-ferrous metals and chemicals stocks are trading mixed.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index is currently down 46 points or 0.5 percent at 9,545.5.

Chubu Electric Power, T&D Holdings Inc., Pioneer Corp, Toho, Softbank and Taisei Corp are down 2-3 percent.

Mitsui Mining is up nearly 3 percent on media reports that a large deposit of natural gas has been found in a joint exploration project off the coast of Mozambique.

NEC Corp., Tokyo Dome, Fuji Electric, Mizuho Securities, Mizuho Trust & Banking, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Nippon Light Metals, Bridgestone, Canon Inc and Sumitomo Metal Industries are trading notably lower.

Among bank stocks, Mizuho Trust & Banking, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Shinsei Bank are trading notably lower, while Shizuoka Bank and Bank of Yokohama are up with modest gains.

Automobile stocks Hino Motor, Nissan Motor, Honda Motor, Mazda Motor, Isuzu Motors and Toyota Motor are trading weak.

Mitsubishi Paper, Sumco, Tosoh, Japan Tobacco, Showa Denko KK, Asahi Breweries, Furukawa, Dainippon Sumito, Fast Retailing and Dowa Holdings are among the notable gainers.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the lower 83 yen range in early deals in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 83.10 to the U.S. dollar.

Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan are in positive territory, while Australia and Hong Kong are trading weak. Markets across the region ended mostly lower on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved higher on Friday after showing a lack of direction earlier in the session. The markets benefited from largely upbeat economic news, which overshadowed some disappointing quarterly results.

The major averages all ended the day in positive territory, although off their highs for the session. The Dow rose 56.7 points or 0.5 percent to 12,341.8, the Nasdaq edged up 4.4 points or 0.2 percent to 2,764.7 and the S&P 500 climbed 5.2 points or 0.4 percent to 1,319.7.

Major European markets moved to the upside on Friday. The French CAC 40 index ended up 0.1 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index and the German DAX index gained 0.5 percent and 0.4 percent respectively.

Crude oil prices rose on Friday on encouraging reports on U.S. consumer confidence and industrial production. Light, sweet crude for May delivery ended up US$1.55 at US$109.66 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. For the latest updates PRESS CTR + D or visit Stock Market news Today

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