Nikkei 225

Japanese factory output and U.S. consumer confidence are among the few trading cues in the last trading week of the year, with Tokyo's Nikkei 225 on track to be one of the best-performing major stock indices globally.

The Japanese market is open from today through Dec. 20 in what is expected to be quiet trading in a holiday-shortened week.

Toyota remained the top automaker in global vehicle sales after the first nine months of this year, selling nearly 7.5 million vehicles, outpacing rivals General Motors and Volkswagen.

Toyota Motor Corp.'s global sales for the first three quarters totaled 7.498 million vehicles, down 1.5 percent from the same period the previous year, according to numbers released on Oct. 26.

Toyota Oct. 8 said it was willing to help the United States probe how the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has managed to get hold of so many of its notoriously tough trucks.

The Turkish unit of Toyota Motor Corp saw first-half exports slump by 30 percent to 42,433 units after a weaker ruble hit Russia?s car market, but it hopes to pare losses with sales domestically and to Europe, the unit?s chief executive has said. 

Toyota and Nissan, Japan's two top automakers, on June 25 said they will recall more than three million more cars globally because of concerns over airbags involved in eight deaths worldwide.