Japanese Market Slightly Higher, Paring Early Losses

The Japanese stock market is slightly higher after recouping early losses on Wednesday, extending the gains of the previous four sessions, with the benchmark Nikkei index staying above the 28,500 mark, despite the slightly negative cues overnight from Wall Street. Traders also continue to be cautious amid the accelerating daily coronavirus infection rates caused by highly contagious variants of the virus and the slow vaccine roll out.

The Japanese government is mulling tougher measures to contain the daily coronavirus case rate and will decide this weekend on extending the COVID-19 state of emergency into June.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 18.50 points or 0.06 percent to 28,572.48, after hitting a low of 28,396.62 and a high of 28,710.83 in early trades. Japanese stocks closed notably higher on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing almost 1 percent, while Toyota is adding almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is gaining almost 3 percent and Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.2 percent, while Advantest is edging down 0.2 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is losing more than 1 percent, Mizuho Financial is down almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is declining almost 2 percent.

Among the major exporters, Panasonic is gaining more than 3 percent and Sony is adding almost 1 percent, while Canon is losing almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is edging down 0.5 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Z Holdings, Casio Computer and IHI are gaining almost 5 percent each, while Recruit Holdings, Keisei Electric Railway and Ricoh are adding almost 3 percent each. Isuzu Motors and Shiseido are up more than 2 percent each, while Japan Steel Works, Sumco, NTT Data, ANA Holdings and GS Yuasa are adding almost 2 percent each.

Conversely, Nippon Steel and Tokai Carbon are losing more than 4 percent each, while JFE Holdings is down almost 4 percent. Japan Post Holdings and CyberAgent are declining more than 3 percent, while Kobe Steel and Oji Holdings are lower by almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 108 yen-range on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved to the upside early in the trading day on Tuesday but failed to sustain the advance and showed a lack of direction over the course of the session. The major averages spent much of the day lingering near the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually ended the session modestly lower. The Dow dipped 81.52 points or 0.2 percent to 34,312.46, the Nasdaq edged down 4.00 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 13,657.17 and the S&P 500 slipped 8.92 points or 0.2 percent to 4,188.13

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index edged up by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index both fell by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil futures settled marginally higher on Tuesday, with traders closely following the ongoing negotiations with regard to the Iran nuclear deal. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July edged up $0.02 to $66.07 a barrel.

Market Analysis