Japanese Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - Extending the gains in the previous three sessions, the Japanese stock market is sharply higher on Thursday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is adding more than 600 points and is moving above the 35,000 mark to fresh 34-year highs, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights, exporters and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 602.83 points or 1.75 percent to 35,044.55, after touching a high a 34-year high of 35,095.88 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Wednesday.

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

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 2 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding more than 1 percent and Screen Holdings is up almost 1 percent.

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

Among the major exporters, Canon is edging up 0.4 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is gaining more than 3 percent, Panasonic is advancing almost 5 percent and Sony is adding more than 3 percent.

Among other major gainers, SMC is surging almost 5 percent, while Tokyo Electric Power, Subaru, Mazda Motor, Mitsui Mining & Smelting and Itochu are gaining more than 4 percent each. Hitachi, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Concordia Financial and Suzuki Motor are adding almost 4 percent each, while Toppan Holdings and Daiichi Sankyo are advancing more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, Rakuten Group is losing almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid-145 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved to the upside during trading on Wednesday after ending the previous session on opposite sides of the unchanged line. With the upward move, the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed higher for the fourth straight session.

The major averages pulled back off their best levels in late-day trading but remained in positive territory. The Nasdaq advanced 111.94 points or 0.8 percent to 14,969.65, the S&P 500 climbed 26.95 points or 0.6 percent to 4,783.45 and the Dow rose 170.57 points or 0.5 percent to 37,695.73.

Meanwhile, the major European markets finished the day little changed. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index declined by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both ended the day roughly flat.

Crude oil prices dropped on Wednesday after data showed an unexpected increase in U.S. crude inventories. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February delivery ended down $0.87 at $71.37 a barrel.