Japanese Market Sharply Higher, Up 4.5%

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is sharply higher in post-holiday trading on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is surging 4.5 percent to well above the 62,150 level, with gains in across most sectors led by index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 2,676.58 points or 4.50 percent to 62,189.70, after touching a high of 62,234.86 earlier. Japanese stocks ended modestly higher on Friday ahead of the holidays on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is soaring more than 13 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining almost 1 percent, while Honda is losing almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is soaring almost 8 percent, Tokyo Electron is surging more than 8 percent and Screen Holdings is jumping more than 7 percent.

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

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is surging more than 8 percent and Panasonic is gaining almost 1 percent, while Canon and Sony are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each.

Among other major gainers, Ibiden and Mitsui Kinzoku are soaring more than 16 percent each, while Renesas Electronics is jumping more than 13 percent each, while Ebara, Tosoh and Sumitomo Electric Industries are surging more than 11 percent each. Seiko Epson and Furukawa Electric are advancing more than 10 percent each, while Resonac Holdings is gaining almost 10 percent and Amada is adding almost 9 percent. Fujikura and Shin-Etsu Chemical are adding more than 8 percent each. Conversely, M3 is tumbling almost 8 percent and Inpex is slipping almost 6 percent, while Marubeni and Mitsui & Co. are declining almost 5 percent each. Daiichi Sankyo, Sumitomo Pharma and Chugai Pharmaceutical are losing more than 4 percent each, while Sojitz and ZOZO are declining almost 4 percent each. Oriental Land, DeNA and Nintendo are down almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, the monetary base in Japan was down 11.3 percent on year in April, the Bank of Japan said on Thursday - coming in at 570.787 trillion yen. That missed expectations for a decline of 10.5 percent following the 10.6 percent drop in March. The adjusted monetary base shed 5.6 percent on year to 577.319 trillion yen.

Banknotes in circulation were down 1.8 percent, while coins in circulation fell 1.1 percent. Current account balances tumbled an annual 13.5 percent, including a 12.0 percent drop in reserve balances.

Meanwhile, members of the Bank of Japan's Monetary Policy Board said that the main risk to the country's growth is the future course of events in the Middle East, minutes from the bank's March 18-19 meeting revealed on Thursday. At the meeting, the BoJ maintained its interest rate at around 0.75 percent, citing risks to the inflation outlook - especially to crude oil - due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 156 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher early in the session on Wednesday and saw further upside as the day progressed. The major averages added to the gains posted during Tuesday's session, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 reaching new record closing highs.

The major averages ended the day just off their highs of the session. The Nasdaq surged 512.82 points or 2 percent to 25,838.94, the S&P 500 shot up 105.90 points or 1.5 percent to 7,365.12 and the Dow jumped 612.34 points or 1.2 percent to 49,910.59.

The major European markets also showed strong moves to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index surged by 2.9 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 2.1 percent and the German DAX Index shot up by 2.2 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices went into freefall after Trump indicated the U.S. and Iran may reach a deal soon. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery was down $7.83 or 7.66 percent at $94.44 per barrel.