Japanese Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is modestly higher in choppy trading on Thursday after opening in the red, snapping a four-session losing streak, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 32,700 level, despite the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, with gains in index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 44.77 points or 0.14 percent to 32,713.11, after touching a high of 32,757.19 and a low of 32,503.69 earlier. Japanese stocks closed slightly lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining 1.5 percent. Among automakers, Toyota and Honda are edging down 0.3 to 0.5 percent each.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is edging up 0.2 percent and Tokyo Electron is gaining more than 1 percent, while Advantest is declining almost 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Canon and Mitsubishi Electric are losing more than 1 percent each, while Panasonic and Sony are flat.

Among other major gainers, Sharp is gaining almost 5 percent, while BANDAI NAMCO and Tokuyama are adding almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, CyberAgent is plunging almost 12 percent, Nitto Denko is sliding more than 5 percent and Nissan Motor is losing almost 4 percent, while Taisei and Mitsubishi Motors are down more than 3 percent each. In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 139 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw typically volatility following the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. The major averages showed wild swings before ending the day narrowly mixed.

While the Dow rose 82.05 points or 0.2 percent to 35,520.12, extending its winning streak to 13 sessions, the S&P 500 edged down 0.71 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 4,566.75 and the Nasdaq slipped 17.27 points or 0.1 percent at 14,127.28.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 1.4 percent, the German DAX Index slid by 0.5 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices fell Wednesday, weighed down by data showing a smaller than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September fell $0.85 or 1.1 percent at $78.78 a barrel.