Japanese Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is modestly higher on Thursday after opening in the red, reversing the losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving up to near the 54,400 level, with gains in automakers stocks partially offset by weakness in technology stocks. Most other sectors displayed a mixed performance.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 102.53 points or 0.19 percent to 55,395.89, after hitting a low of 54,027.62 earlier. Japanese shares ended notably lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is tumbling almost 6 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining more than 3 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining more than 1 percent, while Honda is advancing almost 3 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is declining more than 3 percent, Screen Holdings is down almost 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is losing more than 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing almost 2 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining almost 1 percent and Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.3 percent.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is losing almost 1 percent and Sony is edging down 0.1 percent, while Canon is gaining almost 2 percent and Panasonic is soaring more than 11 percent.

Among other major gainers, Astellas Pharma is skyrocketing more than 10 percent, Fukuoka Financial is soaring more than 9 percent and Renesas Electronics is jumping almost 9 percent, while OKUMA, LY and Chugai Pharmaceutical are surging almost 8 percent each. Aozora Bank is advancing more than 6 percent and GS Yuasa is up 5.5 percent, while Credit Saison, Isetan Mitsukoshi, Toppan Holdings and J. Front Retailing are gaining almost 5 percent each. Sapporo Holdings and Nitori Holdings are advancing almost 4 percent each.

Conversely, M3s tumbling more than 8 percent, Daikin Industries is slipping more than 6 percent, NEC is losing almost 5 percent and Hino Motors is sliding almost 4 percent, while Furukawa Electric and Ibiden are declining more than 3 percent each. Konami Group and Fuji Electric are down almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 156 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, technology stocks showed another significant move to the downside during trading on Wednesday after weighing on the markets during Tuesday's session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq slumped to its lowest closing level in over a month after flirting with its record highs just a week.

The Nasdaq ended the day off its lows of the session but still tumbled 350.61 points or 1.5 percent to 22,904.58. The S&P 500 also slid 35.09 points or 0.5 percent to 6,882.72, while the narrower Dow climbed 260.31 points or 0.5 percent to 49,501.30.

The major European markets also ended the day mixed. While the German DAX Index fell by 0.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.9 percent and the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.0 percent.

Crude oil prices surged on Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration said inventories in the U.S. fell far more than expected. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was up $1.97 or 3.12 percent at $65.18 per barrel.