Japanese Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is trading sharply higher on Thursday, reversing some of the losses in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving above the 66,150 level, with gains in index heavyweights and automaker stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 834.36 points or 1.28 percent to 66,160.78, after touching a high of 66,325.32 earlier. Japanese stocks ended sharply lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is surging more than 5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is up more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining almost 4 percent, while Honda is advancing more than 4 percent.

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

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging down 0.5 percent.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric and Canon are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Sony is adding more than 2 percent. Panasonic is losing almost 1 percent.

Among other major gainers, Sumitomo Metal Mining is skyrocketing almost 10 percent, Kansai Electric Power is soaring more than 8 percent and Sumitomo Pharma is jumping more than 7 percent, while Mitsubishi Materials, Dowa Holdings, Tokyo Electric Power and Nissan Chemical are surging almost 6 percent each. Mitsui Kinzoku, SHIFT, Kioxia Holdings are advancing more than 5 percent each, while Mazda Motor, Nissan Motor and Daiichi Sankyo are gaining almost 5 percent each. Hitachi Construction Machinery is adding more than 4 percent.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 158 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a modest move back to the upside during trading on Wednesday following the pullback seen over the past few sessions. The major averages gave back some ground after an early advance but still ended the day in positive territory.

The Dow climbed 119.65 points or 0.2 percent to 53,463.05, the Nasdaq rose 41.38 points or 0.2 percent to 26,331.09 and the S&P 500 edged up 16.22 points or 0.2 percent to 7,707.98.

Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day little changed and mixed. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index crept up by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both edged down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices soared on Wednesday as the closure of Strait of Hormuz continues, extending supply disruption concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was up $1.18 or 1.39 percent at $86.12 per barrel.