FX.co ★ Japanese Market Significantly Higher

The Japanese stock market saw a notable increase on Friday, recovering from some of the previous session's losses. This rise followed mixed signals from Wall Street overnight and occurred alongside mixed economic data from Japan. As a result, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose above 40,400, fueled by gains in most sectors, particularly among heavyweight indexes, exporters, and financial stocks.

The Nikkei 225 Index advanced 265.73 points or 0.66 percent to 40,433.80 after an earlier high of 40,446.53. This uplift comes after Japanese stocks suffered significant losses on Thursday. Notable players such as SoftBank Group and Toyota saw marginal decreases, whilst Fast Retailing and Honda witnessed an increase of more than 1 percent and almost 2 percent respectively.

Tech firms Advantest and Screen Holdings both experienced nearly 1 percent in gains. In addition, banking sector's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial expanded more than 1 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial inched up 0.4 percent.

Major exporters are seeing mixed results, with Mitsubishi Electric losing over 1 percent, while Canon, Sony, and Panasonic added roughly 1 percent.

Other significant gainers included Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsui Fudosan, and Sumitomo Realty and Development, which all experienced almost 4 percent increases. Mitsubishi Estate, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and Olympus were among companies that saw almost 3 percent advancements. Despite the overall gains, a few stocks neglected such upward trend.

Turning to economic news, Japan's retail sales in February reported a 4.6 percent year-on-year increase, exceeding expectations of a 2.8 percent rise. However, Japan's industrial production in the same period demonstrated a seasonally adjusted monthly decrease of 0.1 percent. This downturn led the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) to mark down its assessment of the sector, stating its performance remains indecisive and has weakened. Nevertheless, METI forecasts an increase of 4.9 percent in March and 3.3 percent in April.

In addition, Japan's unemployment rate in February sat at a seasonally adjusted 2.6 percent, higher than anticipated. The jobs-to-applicants ratio was 1.26, below the estimated 1.27.

The U.S dollar stood in the lower 151 yen-range on Friday. On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction, resulting in a mixed closing with the Dow and the S&P 500 hitting new record closing highs.

In European markets, there was a modest increase overall. The U.K's FTSE 100 Index ascended by 0.3 percent, while the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index also saw slight rises.

Finally, Crude oil futures for the month of May experienced a 2.2 percent increase to $83.17 a barrel owing to anticipation of falling supply levels due to OPEC production cuts and continued attacks on Russian oil facilities by Ukraine. For the week, WTI futures climbed 3.15 percent.