Japanese Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is trading significantly higher on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving well above the 44,200 level, with gains in index heavyweights and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in automakers and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 403.57 points or 0.92 percent to 44,241.24, after touching a high of 44,243.23 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly higher on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is climbing more than 8 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing more than 1 percent and Honda is also down more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is advancing more than 3 percent, Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.1 percent and Screen Holdings is adding almost 3 percent.

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

Among the major exporters, Sony is losing almost 1 percent and Canon is edging down 0.1 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is gaining more than 1 percent and Panasonic is edging up 0.5 percent.

Among other major gainers, Mitsui Mining & Smelting is gaining more than 4 percent and Kansai Electric Power is adding almost 4 percent, while Nippon Electric Glass and Fuji Electric are advancing more than 3 percent. Fujikura and Ryohin Keikaku are up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In economic news, producer prices in Japan were down 0.2 percent on month in August, the Bank of Japan said on Thursday. That missed expectations for a decline of 0.1 percent and down from the upwardly revised 0.3 percent gain in July (originally 0.2 percent).

On a yearly basis, producer prices were up 2.7 percent - matching forecasts and up from the downwardly revised 2.5 percent increase in the previous month (originally 2.6 percent). Export prices were down 0.1 percent on month and 1.1 percent on year, the central bank said, while import prices were flat on month and down 4.6 percent on year.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 147 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher early in the session on Wednesday but gave back ground over the course of the trading day. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq pulled back well off their best levels but still managed to end the day at new record closing highs.

The S&P 500 rose 19.43 points or 0.3 percent to 6,532.04 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq inched up 6.57 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 21,886.06, while the narrower Dow slid 220.42 points or 0.5 percent to 45,490.92.

The major European markets also turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index crept up by 0.2 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.2 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices surged on Wednesday on geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and Europe, along with inflation data from the U.S. that has reinforced interest rate cut expectations. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $1.07 or 1.71 percent at $63.70 per barrel.