Japanese Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is notably higher on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving above the 58,950 level, with gains in index heavyweights, exporters, automakers and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 390.88 points or 0.67 percent to 58,974.00, after touching a high of 59,332.43 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is advancing almost 4 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining more than 3 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining more than 2 percent and Honda is advancing almost 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is declining more than 4 percent, Screen Holdings is down more than 3 percent and Tokyo Electron is losing almost 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining almost 3 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding more than 2 percent and Mizuho Financial is advancing almost 4 percent.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 1 percent, Sony is advancing almost 4 percent and Canon is adding almost 2 percent, while Panasonic is edging down 0.2 percent.

Among other major gainers, SHIFT is soaring more than 9 percent, Nomura Research Institute is jumping more than 8 percent and Recruit Holdings is surging almost 8 percent, while Fujitsu and BayCurrent are advancing more than 7 percent each. NEC is gaining almost 7 percent, M3 is adding more than 6 percent, Trend Micro is up almost 6 percent and Toppan Holdings is surging more than 5 percent, while Sumco, T&D Holdings, Dai-ichi Life and Fanuc are rising almost 5 percent each. Hitachi is gaining more than 4 percent.

Conversely, Ibiden is tumbling almost 7 percent, while Sumitomo Electric Industries and Resonac Holdings are slipping more than 4 percent each. Furukawa Electric is losing more than 3 percent, while Disco, Keyence and Toto are declining almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 155 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Wednesday, adding to the strong gains posted in the previous session. With the continued advance, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 more than offset the steep losses posted on Monday.

The major averages ended the day just off their highs of the session. The Nasdaq jumped 288.40 points or 1.3 percent to 23,152.08, the S&P 500 climbed 56.06 points or 0.8 percent to 6,946.13 and the Dow rose 307.65 points or 0.6 percent to 49,482.15.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.2 percent, the German DAX Index advanced by 0.8 percent and the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices ticked lower on Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration reported a substantial rebound by U.S. crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery slipped $0.15 or 0.2 percent to $65.48 a barrel.