Japanese Market Modestly Higher

The Japanese stock market is modestly higher on Thursday, recouping most of the losses of the previous session, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 moving above the 27,600 level, following the mixed cues overnight from Wall Street, even as the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus continues to stifle economic activity in 30 cities in the country.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 55.41 points or 0.20 percent to 27,639.49, after touching a high of 27,741.55 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging down 0.3 percent, while Honda is gaining almost 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Screen Holdings are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is up almost 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging up 0.3 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is flat.

The major exporters are mixed. Sony and Panasonic are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.3 percent. Canon is flat.

Among the other major gainers, Hitachi Zosen is gaining more than 7 percent, Rakuten Group is adding almost 7 percent, Mitsui E&S Holdings is up more than 6 percent, Nippon Yusen K.K. is rising almost 6 percent, Terumo is gaining more than 5 percent and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines is up almost 4 percent, while SKY Perfect JSAT Holdings, Sumitomo and Minebea Mitsumi are adding more than 3 percent.

Conversely, Ricoh is losing almost 12 percent and Isuzu Motors is down more than 5 percent, while Mazda Motor, GS Yuasa and Alps Alpine are declining almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 109 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly lower during trading on Wednesday, although the tech-heavy Nasdaq bucked the downtrend. The Dow slid firmly into negative territory, while the S&P 500 pulled back off Tuesday’s record closing high.

The Dow slumped 323.73 points or 0.9 percent to 34,792.67 and the S&P 500 fell 20.49 points or 0.5 percent to 4,402.66. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq spent most of the day lingering near the unchanged line before closing up 19.24 points or 0.1 percent at 14,780.53.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index jumped by 0.9 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index both rose 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices plummeted again on Wednesday, extending the sharp pullback seen over the two previous sessions, following an unexpected increase in crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate crude sank $2.41 or 3.4 percent to $68.15 a barrel.

Market Analysis