Japanese Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is significantly higher on Thursday, snapping the five-session losing streak, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving well above the 53,850 level, with gains across most sectors led financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 607.79 points or 1.15 percent to 53,382.43, after touching a high of 53,461.19 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining more than 1 percent and Honda is adding almost 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining more than 2 percent, Screen Holdings is surging almost 7 percent and Tokyo Electron is advancing more than 4 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining almost 1 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding more than 1 percent and Mizuho Financial is advancing almost 2 percent.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.5 percent, Canon is gaining almost 1 percent and Panasonic is advancing almost 3 percent, while Sony is losing almost 2 percent.

Among other major gainers, Disco is soaring more than 13 percent, Toho is surging more than 6 percent, Resonac Holdings is gaining almost 5 percent and Omron is adding more than 4 percent, while Toppan Holdings, Nikon, Lasertec and Shionogi & Co. are advancing almost 4 percent each. Sumco is up more than 3 percent, while Mitsubishi Motors, Mitsui Chemicals and Mazda Motor are rising almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Sumitomo Metal Mining is slipping almost 5 percent and Aeon is losing more than 4 percent, while Ebara and Kawasaki Heavy Industries are declining more than 3 percent each. M3 and IHI are down almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, Japan posted a merchandise trade surplus of 105.7 billion yen in December, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday. That missed forecasts for a surplus of 357.0 billion yen and was down from 316.7 billion yen in November.

Exports were up 5.1 percent on year at 9.906 trillion yen - shy of expectations for a gain of 6.1 percent, which would have been unchanged from the previous month. Imports climbed an annual 5.3 percent to 9.978 trillion yen versus forecasts for an increase of 3.6 percent and up from 1.3 percent from a month earlier.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 158 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw significant volatility over the course of the trading day on Wednesday after showing a strong move to the upside early in the session. The major averages largely gave back their early gains in late morning trading before experiencing an afternoon resurgence and ending the day sharply higher.

The major averages all posted strong gains on the day, partly offsetting the steep drop seen on Tuesday. The Dow surged 588.64 points or 1.2 percent to 49,077.23, the Nasdaq shot up 270.50 points or 1.2 percent to 23,224.82 and the S&P 500 jumped 78.76 points or 1.2 percent to 6,875.62.

Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day mixed. While the German DAX Index slid by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices posted gains Wednesday as traders assessed Trump's speech at the World Economic Forum, where he sought negotiations on the U.S. bid to acquire Greenland. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was up $0.10 or 0.17 percent at $60.46 per barrel.