Japanese Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is modestly higher in choppy trading on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 27,400 level, following the mostly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains among market heavyweights and technology stocks. Traders also reacted positively to the US Fed's monetary policy announcement.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 99.31 points or 0.36 percent to 27,446.19, after touching a high of 27,472.44 earlier. Japanese stocks closed slightly higher on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is also adding more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging down 0.2 percent and Honda is losing almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is gaining almost 2 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding almost 3 percent and Advantest is advancing more than 4 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing more than 1 percent and Mizuho Financial is down almost 1 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is flat. Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is losing almost 2 percent and Sony is edging up 0.3 percent, while Panasonic and Canon are flat.

Among the other major gainers, M3 is gaining 3.5 percent.

Conversely, Sumitomo Chemical is slipping more than 6 percent, NSK is losing almost 5 percent and Mitsui Chemicals is declining 3.5 percent, while Kyocera and Mitsubishi Chemical Group are down almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, the monetary base in Japan was down 3.8 percent on year in January, the Bank of Japan said on Thursday - coming in at 637.693 trillion yen. That follows the 6.1 percent contraction in December. Banknotes in circulation fell 2.7 percent, while coins in circulation dropped 4.0 percent. Current account balances sank an annual 5.2 percent, including a 6.6 percent decline in reserve balances. The adjusted monetary base surged 43.8 percent on year to 643.161 trillion yen.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 128 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher late in the trading session on Wednesday, as traders reacted positively to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. With the upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached their best closing levels in four months.

The major averages all finished the day in positive territory, although the Dow inched up just 6.92 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 34,092.96. The Nasdaq surged 231.77 points or 2.0 percent to 11,816.32, while the S&P 500 jumped 42.61 points or 1.1 percent to 4,119.21.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index rose by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both edged down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil futures fell to a three-week low on Wednesday, weighed down by data showing an increase in crude inventories last week in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March sank $2.46 or 3.1 percent at $76.41 a barrel.