Japan Nikkei gains on Wall Street's advance, weaker yen

Headline equities of the Japan market advanced to eight-month high on Friday, 28 September 2018, as investor sentiment was lifted tracking overnight rally on Wall Street. Meanwhile, comparatively weaker yen against greenback and optimism for earning growth also added support. Total 29 issues out of 33 TSE index inclined, with shares of Information & Communication, Chemicals, Pulp & Paper, Pulp & Paper, Electric Power & Gas, and Electric Appliances issues being notable gainers. The 225-issue Nikkei index ended up 323.30 points, or 1.36%, at 24,120.04. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange finished 17.14 points, or 0.95%, higher at 1,817.25. The Nikkei index hit its highest intraday level 24,286.10, the highest level since 15 November 1991. The 225-issue Nikkei index advanced 1% for the week, while it surged 5.5% in September 2018.

Shares of major exporters were mostly higher, supported by a weak yen and expectations for Japanese corporate earnings, with Nintendo Co soaring 1.5%, Subaru Corp surging 2.3% and Kyocera Corp advancing 1.8%. Sony rose 4.5% to 6,966 yen while Nippon Electric Glass climbed 2.9% to 3,575 yen.

Shares of shippers gained after the baltic dry index, for freight charges, rose 1.4% overnight. Mitsui OSK Lines surged 1.4% and Kawasaki Kisen soared 1.8%.

SoftBank Group gained 4.7% to 11,470 yen as the company started a taxi-hailing service using a smartphone app developed by Chinese ride-share firm Didi Chuxing Technology on Thursday.

Panasonic Corp, which provides batteries for Tesla Inc, dropped 1% after the top US securities regulator on Thursday accused Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk of fraud. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sought to remove him from his role in charge of the electric car company, saying he made a series of "false and misleading" tweets about potentially taking Tesla private last month.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Japan jobless rate cools down in August -- Japan's unemployment rate stood at 2.4 percent in August, down from 2.5 percent the previous month to remain near the lowest level since the early 1990s, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said Friday.

Japan industrial output rebounds -- Industrial production in Japan climbed a seasonally adjusted 0.7% on month in August, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said in Friday's preliminary reading, down from expectations of 1.4% increase but up from 0.1 percent decline in July. On a yearly basis, industrial production added 0.6% - again missing forecasts for an increase of 1.5% and down sharply from 2.2% in the previous month.

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