The Japanese stock market is edging higher on Friday after a weak start as U.S. stocks closed lower overnight for a third straight session amid uncertainty about a new stimulus bill and on worries about the resurgence in coronavirus cases in Europe. Expectations of new stimulus measures by the government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga underpinned sentiment.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 16.71 points or 0.07 percent to 23,523.94, after falling to a low of 23,465.42 in early trades. Japanese stocks closed lower on Thursday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is adding 0.3 percent and Fast Retailing is gaining almost 5 percent.
Fast Retailing, the operator of the Uniqlo and GU casual clothing brands, reported a 44 percent fall in profit for the year ended August 2020, but projected a record net profit for the current fiscal year.
The major exporters are mixed despite a weaker yen. Sony is losing more than 2 percent, while Canon and Mitsubishi Electric are edging down 0.1 percent each. Panasonic is adding 0.7 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is adding 0.6 percent, while Tokyo Electron is lower by 0.4 percent.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is rising 0.3 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is up 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is adding 0.4 percent, while Toyota is lower by 0.5 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Tokyo Electric Power and Fujifilm Holdings are advancing more than 2 percent each.
Conversely, Chugai Pharmaceutical is losing almost 3 percent, while Screen Holdings, Rakuten, Takeda Pharmaceutical and NTT Data are lower by more than 2 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 105 yen-range on Friday.
On Wall Street, stocks showed a significant recovery attempt after moving sharply lower in early trading on Thursday, but still ended in negative territory. The initial sell-off came amid uncertainty about a new stimulus bill and as a Labor Department report showed an unexpected increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended October 10. However, stocks rebounded well off their lows after Mnuchin told CNBC's "Squawk Box" that he and President Donald Trump are committed to getting a stimulus deal done.
While the Dow plunged by more than 330 points in early trading, the blue chip index ended the day down just 19.80 points or 0.1 percent to 28,494.20. The Nasdaq fell 54.86 points or 0.5 percent to 11,713.87 and the S&P 500 dipped 5.33 points or 0.2 percent to 3,483.34.
The major European also showed significant moves to the downside on Thursday. While the German DAX Index plummeted by 2.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index plunged by 2.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slumped by 1.7 percent.
Crude oil prices rebounded after early weakness to pare most of their losses on Thursday, after data showed a larger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories in the week ended October 9. WTI crude for November delivery still ended down $0.08 or nearly 0.2 percent at $40.96 a barrel.
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