The Japanese stock market is sharply higher on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 up more than 750 points to move above the 26,500 level, following the broadly positive cues overnight from Wall Street, aided by a spike across all sectors after the U.S. Fed raised its benchmark short-term interest rate to tame the worst inflation since the early 1980s. Traders also remain optimistic amid the ongoing talks to diffuse.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 756.33 points or 2.94 percent to 26,518.34, after touching a high of 26,702.94 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Wednesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is surging almost 7 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding almost 6 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is advancing 1.5 percent and Honda is gaining more than 1 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 5 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding almost 4 percent and Screen Holdings are surging more than 5 percent.
In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are adding almost 2 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is up almost 1 percent.
The major exporters are higher. Sony is gaining almost 4 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is advancing more than 3 percent and Panasonic is adding almost 2 percent, while Canon is edging down 0.3 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Omron is soaring almost 8 percent, while Toto and Yaskawa Electric are surging more than 7 percent each. Recruit Holdings and Olympus are gaining almost 7 percent each, while TDK, Japan Steel Works, Shiseido and Daikin Industries are adding more than 6 percent each. Fanuc, Taiyo Yuden and OKUMA are up almost 6 percent.
Conversely, East Japan Railway is losing almost 3 percent.
In economic news, the value of core machine orders in Japan was up 5.1 percent on year in January, the Cabinet Office said on Thursday – coming in at 899.6 billion yen. That was shy of expectations for an increase of 8.1 percent but was unchanged from December’s annual reading. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, core machine orders were down 2.0 percent – beating forecasts for a decline of 2.2 percent after slipping 3.6 percent in December. For the first quarter of 2022, core machine orders are forecast to fall 0.5 percent on quarter but rise 8.3 percent on year.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 118 yen-range on Thursday.
On Wall Street, stocks saw substantial volatility following the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement after showing a strong move to the upside in early trading on Wednesday. The major averages initially pulled back sharply in reaction to the Fed announcement but rallied strongly going into the close.
The major averages finished the session at their best levels of the day. The Dow jumped 518.76 points or 1.6 percent to 34,063.10, the Nasdaq soared 487.93 points or 3.8 percent to 13,436.55 and the S&P 500 surged 95.41 points or 2.2 percent at 4,357.86.
The major European markets also showed substantial moves to the upside on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index shot up by 1.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index surged by 3.7 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively.
Crude oil prices dropped Wednesday, extending losses to a third straight session after data showed a surprise surge in U.S. crude inventories, and amid hopes of some progress in Russia-Ukraine peace talks. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $1.40 or 1.5 percent at $95.04 a barrel.
Market Analysis
Japanese Market Sharply Higher, Up 3%
2022-03-17 02:50:33
