Japanese Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is trading notably higher on Thursday, reversing the losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving above the 45,000 mark, with gains across most sectors led by exporters and technology stocks.

The Bank of Japan meets on Friday to decide on interest rates but no change in policy is expected due to uncertainties over the domestic political situation and the effects of U.S. tariffs.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 222.48 points or 0.50 percent to 45,012.86, after touching a high of 45,055.99 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.3 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging up 0.4 percent, while Honda is edging down 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining more than 2 percent, Tokyo Electron is advancing more than 4 percent and Screen Holdings is surging almost 5 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.2 percent and Sony is gaining more than 1 percent, while Canon and Panasonic are adding almost 1 percent each.

Among other major gainers, Resonac Holdings is soaring almost 11 percent, while Lasertec, Disco and Kirin Holdings are gaining more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, Tokyo Electric Power is tumbling more than 6 percent and Tokyo Gas is losing almost 5 percent.

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

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a lackluster performance throughout much of the session on Wednesday before seeing substantial volatility in afternoon trading following the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement.

The major averages showed wild swings back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing mixed. While the Dow climbed 260.42 points or 0.6 percent to 46,018.32, the S&P 500 edged down 6.41 points or 0.1 percent to 6,600.35 and the Nasdaq fell 72.63 points or 0.3 percent to 22,261.33.

The major European markets also ended the day mixed. While the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both crept up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices moved lower on Wednesday even as drone strikes on Russian ports and refineries disrupting Russian oil supply have increased supply side concerns. WTI Crude Oil for October delivery was last seen trading down by $0.53 or 0.82 percent at $63.99 per barrel.