The Japanese stock market is up with modest gains on Friday, tracking the positive lead overnight from Wall Street. Investors are indulging in bargain hunting following the steep losses in the previous session.

In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 59.90 points or 0.31 percent to 19,351.89, off a high of 19,383.25 earlier.

Among the major exporters, Sony Corp. (SNE) is up 0.4 percent, while Nikon Corp. is adding 0.5 percent and Panasonic is edging up 0.03 percent.