Japanese Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is trading notably higher on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous three sessions, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving above the 57,900 level, with gains in index heavyweights, exporters and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in automakers and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 254.97 points or 0.44 percent to 57,905.51, after touching a high of 58,015.08 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Tuesday ahead of the holiday on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is advancing more than 4 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining 1.5 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is losing almost 1 percent and Honda is declining more than 3 percent.

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

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

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric and Sony are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Canon is edging up 0.2 percent and Panasonic is adding almost 2 percent.

Among other major gainers, Shiseido is skyrocketing almost 14 percent, Mitsui Kinzoku is soaring more than 11 percent, Ibiden is jumping almost 8 percent and Resonac Holdings is surging more than 7 percent, while Mitsubishi Materials and Sumitomo Metal Mining are advancing more than 6 percent each. Toyota Tsusho is up almost 5 percent, while Dowa Holdings, Tokyu, Tokyo Tatemono and Mitsui & Co. are gaining more than 4 percent each. Taiheiyo Cement, Tokyo Electric Power and Daikin Industries are advancing almost 4 percent each.

Conversely, Sharp is tumbling more than 11 percent and BayCurrent is slipping more than 8 percent, while IHI, Sumco and NEC are slipping more than 6 percent each. Recruit Holdings is losing almost 5 percent and LY is sliding almost 4 percent, while CyberAgent, Socionext and SHIFT are declining more than 3 percent each. Toray Industries, Nomura Research Institute and Fujitsu are down almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, producer prices in Japan were up 0.2 percent on month in January, the Bank of Japan said on Thursday - in line with expectations and up from 0.1 percent in December. On a yearly basis, producer prices rose 2.3 percent - again matching forecasts while moderating from 2.4 percent in the previous month.

Export prices were up 2.0 percent on month and 4.7 percent on year, the bank said, while import prices rose 1.2 percent on month but dipped 0.2 percent on year.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 153 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks quickly gave back ground in early trading on Wednesday after failing to sustain an initial move to the upside and showed a lack of direction over the remainder of the session. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing modestly lower.

The Dow slipped 66.74 points or 0.1 percent to 50,1212.40, the Nasdaq dipped 36.01 points or 0.2 percent to 23,066.47 and the S&P 500 edged down 0.34 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 6,941.47.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.2 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed on Wednesday amid heightening tension between the U.S. and Iran, with Israel's intervention exacerbating the standoff. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was up $0.57 or 0.89 percent at $64.53 per barrel.