Japanese Market Significantly Higher

Snapping a five-session losing streak, the Japanese market is trading significantly higher on Thursday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 moved above the 30,800 level, boosted by gains in technology and financial stocks. Traders are also picking up stocks at a bargain after the recent slump.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 315.22 points or 1.03 percent to 30,842.10, after touching a high of 30,845.33 earlier. Japanese stocks closed sharply lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.5 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining almost 3 percent and Honda is adding more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining 3.5 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding more than 1 percent and Screen Holdings is advancing almost 2 percent.

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

Among the major exporters, Canon is adding almost 1 percent, Sony is gaining almost 2 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is up more than 1 percent, while Panasonic is edging down 0.4 percent.

Among other major gainers, Japan Exchange Group is surging more than 5 percent and Aozora Bank is gaining almost 4 percent, while Daiwa Securities, Chubu Electric Power and Nippon Paper Industries are adding more than 3 percent each. Shizuoka Financial, Mitsubishi Estate, ANA Holdings, Ajinomoto, Mitsui Fudosan, Concordia Financial, Japan Airlines and Yamaha Motor are advancing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Taiyo Yuden is losing almost 7 percent and Inpex is declining 3.5 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 148 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Wednesday after turning in a lackluster performance early in the session. The major averages all moved to the upside on the day, bouncing off their lowest closing levels in four months.

The major averages all finished the day firmly positive, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the way higher. The Nasdaq jumped 176.54 points or 1.4 percent to 13,236.01, the S&P 500 advanced 34.30 points or 0.8 percent to 4,263.75 and the Dow rose 127.17 points or 0.4 percent to 33,129.55.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index inched up by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index closed nearly unchanged and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.8 percent.

Crude oil prices plummeted on Wednesday, weighed down by concerns about the outlook for demand amid worries about an economic slowdown. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended lower by $5.01 or 5.6 percent at $84.22 a barrel.

Market Analysis