Japanese Markets Surge; Nikkei Up Over 100 Points

Japanese stocks were trading higher on Friday. The Nikkei 225 climbed 0.61 percent, or 111 points to 18,444.50, and the TOPIX rose 0.52 percent, or 7.53 points to 1,467.49.

iShares MSCI Japan ETF EWJ closed at $49.91, while iShares MSCI Pacific ex-Japan Idx (ETF) EPP gained 0.51 percent to close at $41.04 on Wednesday.

The U.S. dollar rose 0.3 percent to trade at 113.710 yen against the Japanese yen. The dollar index was trading flat at 101.720.

West Texas Intermediate for January delivery fell 0.08 percent to trade at $47.92 per barrel on the NYMEX, while Brent for January settlement dropped 0.18 percent to $48.91 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange.

U.S. markets were closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday. U.S. markets closed mixed on Wednesday, with the Dow gaining 0.31 percent to 19,083.18, and the NASDAQ dropping 0.11 percent to 5,380.68.

Top market movers among the Japanese market are as follows:

• Shares of Fuji Seiki Co Ltd (6400) climbed around 36 percent to 158.0 JPY.
• Geonext Corp (3777) shares rose around 19 percent to 44.0 JPY.
• Nagaoka International Corp (6239) shares increased over 17 percent to 677.0 JPY.

• Kimuratan Corp (8107) shares dropped around 13 percent to 7.0 JPY.
• AGP Corp (9377) declined over 9 percent to 1,030.0 JPY.
• Ascot Corp (3264) shares fell 9 percent to 626.0 JPY.