The Japanese stock market is modestly higher on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous four sessions, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 moving above the 28,100 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 almost 30 cities in the country.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 55.10 points or 0.20 percent to 28,125.61, after touching a high of 28,279.80 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly higher on Wednesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is flat and Honda is edging down 0.5 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are losing more than 1 percent each, while Screen Holdings is edging down 0.4 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging up 0.5 percent each.
The major exporters are mixed. Sony and Mitsubishi Electric are losing almost 1 percent each, while Canon is gaining almost 1 percent and Panasonic is edging up 0.4 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is gaining almost 8 percent, Nexon is adding more than 7 percent, Showa Denko K.K. is up more than 6 percent, Dentsu Group is rising almost 6 percent and Tokai Carbon is gaining more than 5 percent, while IHI and Tokyu Fudosan Holdings are adding more than 4 percent each. Daiichi Sankyo is up almost 4 percent and Mitsui Chemicals is up more than 3 percent.
Conversely, Sumco is losing more than 3 percent, while Japan Steel Works, Fujikura and Rakuten Group are down more than 2 percent each.
In economic news, producer prices in Japan were up 5.6 percent on year in July, the Bank of Japan said on Thursday – well above expectations for 5.0 percent, which would have been unchanged from the June reading. On a monthly basis, producer prices spiked 1.1 percent – again well above estimates for 0.5 percent and up from 0.6 percent in the previous month. The export price index rose 0.5 percent on month in July, the bank said, while the import index climbed 1.8 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 110 yen-range on Thursday.
On Wall Street, stocks once again moved in opposite directions during trading on Wednesday, closing mixed for the fourth consecutive session. While the Dow and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs, the tech-heavy Nasdaq finished the day modestly lower.
The Dow climbed 220.30 points or 0.6 percent to 35,484.97 and the S&P 500 rose 10.95 points or 0.3 percent to 4,447.70. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq rebounded from its worst levels of the day but still closed down 22.95 points or 0.2 percent at 14,765.14.
Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.8 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index rose by 0.6 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.
Crude oil futures settled higher on Wednesday, recovering well after an early setback, after the Biden administration said it would not ask U.S. oil producers to hike output. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended up $0.96 or 1.4 percent at $69.25 a barrel.
Market Analysis
Japanese Market Modestly Higher
2021-08-12 02:29:07
