The Nikkei average rebounded, ending the morning session at 39,197.57 yen, up 106.40 yen (estimated volume 0.8 billion or 97.37 million shares).

Last Friday, the U.S. market's Dow average fell by $123.19 to $44,642.52, while the Nasdaq increased by 159.05 points to close at 19,859.77. Following the employment statistics, expectations for additional interest rate cuts at the December Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) increased, leading to a rise after the opening. However, as several Federal Reserve Board (FRB) officials expressed caution about rate cuts, speculation about a slowdown in the pace of rate cuts intensified, causing the market to struggle. Although the Dow remained weak throughout the day, the Nasdaq was supported by early rate cut expectations and trended firmly throughout the day, updating its past record high for consecutive days.

With an eye on the U.S. stock market, today's Nikkei started rebounding at 39,332.55 yen, up 241.38 yen compared to last Friday. Buying initially led, aligning with Chicago futures, but once the buying was done, selling pressure due to profit-taking and waiting for a rebound pushed it briefly into negative territory. However, it later rebounded back into positive territory due to buybacks. As semiconductor-related stocks had attracted attention last Friday, there was likely selling pressure today due to concerns about short-term overheating in the semiconductor segment.

Individually, softbank group co <9984>, IHI <7013>, fast retail <9983>, recruit HD <6098>, and sony group corp <6758> rose. Additionally, rakuten <4755>, seen as a positive factor for shareholder benefits, surged, with elan <6099>, ceres <3696>, and maruichi steel <5463> among the top risers.

On the other hand, some semiconductor-related stocks such as disco <6146> and tohoku electric <8035>, as well as defense-related stocks like mitsubishi heavy industries <7011> and kawasaki heavy industries <7012> were sluggish. Also, mitsubishi UFJ <8306>, hitachi <6501>, kansai electric power <9503>, and mitsubishi corporation <8058> fell. AIN HD <9627>, whose first-half operating profit fell short of plans, and japan parking development <2353>, which had a solid first-quarter result but felt a sense of saturation, dropped sharply. Additionally, japan microdevices <6871>, eternal G <3193>, and symphonia technology <6507> were among the top decliners.

By global sectors, the service sector, air transportation, and information and communications industries rose, while mining, oil and coal products, and the insurance industry declined.

In the afternoon session, the nikkei average stock price seems likely to continue in a heavy upward trend due to a lack of strong buying materials. The prospects of an interest rate hike during the bank of japan's monetary policy meeting on the 18th-19th have decreased since the comments made by bank of japan governor kazuo ueda at the end of November, but there's still plenty of room for rekindling based on economic data such as the third quarter real GDP (secondary estimate) to be announced this week. Also, with the FOMC meeting being held before the bank of japan meeting on the 17th-18th, interest in U.S. economic indicators like the consumer price index in November is expected to rise. This week, fluctuations in the dollar-yen exchange rate are anticipated due to speculation on the U.S. and Japanese central bank meetings, potentially causing export-related stocks such as automobiles and those benefiting from a strong yen to appear at the top of the rise and fall rankings.