The Japanese stock market is higher on Wednesday for the third straight day following the overnight gains on Wall Street amid easing concerns about the retail trading frenzy, upbeat corporate earnings results, and optimism about more U.S. fiscal stimulus.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 241.10 points or 0.85 percent to 28,603.27, after touching a high of 28,669.95 earlier. Japanese shares extended gains on Tuesday from the previous session.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is advancing more than 1 percent and Fast Retailing is adding almost 1 percent. In the tech space, Advantest is declining more than 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is edging down 0.1 percent.
The major exporters are mostly higher despite a slightly stronger yen. Panasonic is rising more than 2 percent each, Mitsubishi Electric is advancing almost 2 percent each and Sony is edging up 0.1 percent, while Canon is declining almost 1 percent.
Panasonic on Tuesday raised its earnings outlook for the current fiscal year on stronger than expected sales in home appliances and rising demand for automotive equipment.
Sony Music Entertainment has agreed to buy all the shares and related assets of two units of U.S.-based Kobalt Music Group for $430 million.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is rising more than 2 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining almost 4 percent and Honda is higher by more than 2 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Mitsubishi Motors is climbing more than 12 percent after narrowing its outlook for full-year loss, while JTEKT Corp. and Hino Motors are higher by more than 5 percent each. Denso Corp. is rising almost 5 percent.
Conversely, Screen Holdings, NSK and M3 are lower by more than 3 percent each.
In economic news, the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed that the services sector in Japan continued to contract in January, and at a faster pace, with a services PMI score of 46.1. That beat expectations for 45.7 and it down from 47.7 in December – so it moves further beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also showed that the composite index fell to 47.1 from 48.5 in December.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 104 yen-range on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed sharply higher on Tuesday, extending gains from the previous session amid easing concerns about the retail trading frenzy. The markets also benefited from a positive reaction to the latest corporate earnings results and remained optimistic about more fiscal stimulus after President Joe Biden met with a group of ten Republican Senators who have offered a counterproposal to his $1.9 trillion relief plan.
The Dow surged up 475.57 points or 1.6 percent to 30,687.48, the Nasdaq jumped 209.38 points or 1.6 percent to 13,612.78 and the S&P 500 shot up 52.45 points or 1.4 percent to 3,826.31.
The major European markets also added on Tuesday to the previous session’s strong gains. While the French CAC 40 Index soared by 1.9 percent, the German DAX Index surged up by 1.6 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.8 percent.
Crude oil prices rose on Tuesday, extending a recent advance, as a move by Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries or OPEC and their allies to cut production helped ease worries about any excess supply in the market. WTI crude for March gained $1.21 or about 2.3 percent at $54.76 a barrel, the highest settlement in more than a year.
Market Analysis
Japanese Market Extends Gains
2021-02-03 02:05:22
