Japanese stocks closed slightly lower on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 down 0.07% as pressure hit the Paper & Pulp, Transportation, and Communications sectors. Interestingly, amid the index's decline, some stocks still performed well. Pacific Metals surged 6.80% to 2,530.00, hitting a three-year high. Okuma Corp. rose 6.66% to 3,765.00, while Furukawa Electric gained 4.73% to 9,928.00. Mitsui Mining and Smelting led the decliners, dropping 2.14%, followed by Toho Co., which fell 2.03%, and Fujitsu, which fell 1.92%. Broadly speaking, the market was actually still positive: 2,542 stocks rose, 1,059 fell, and 235 were unchanged, while the Nikkei volatility index actually fell 10.52% to 29.76, indicating a slight easing of market tensions.

In terms of commodities and currencies, January WTI oil fell slightly by 0.08% to $59.05 per barrel, but February Brent rose 0.41% to $63.13 per barrel. February gold futures rose 0.76% to $4,221.30 per troy ounce, reflecting continued strong investor appetite for safe-haven assets. In the foreign exchange market, USD/JPY rose slightly to 156.39, while EUR/JPY fell slightly to 181.14. US Dollar Index futures also rose 0.08% to 99.60, signaling that the dollar's movements remain a key factor for Japanese market participants. (az)

Source: Newsmaker.id