Japanese Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is significantly higher on Thursday, recouping the losses in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 moving to near the 27,700 level, following the broadly positive cues from global overnight, boosted by gains in some index heavyweights, automakers and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 173.32 points or 0.63 percent to 27,675.18, after touching a high of 27,711.04 earlier. Japanese stocks closed modestly lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining more than 2 percent and Honda is adding more than 1 percent.

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

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each. Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric and Sony are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Canon is edging up 0.2 percent. Panasonic is flat.

Among the other major gainers, Kansai Electric Power is gaining more than 4 percent, while Mazda Motor and Mitsubishi Motors are adding almost 4 percent each. Nissan Motor and Subaru are advancing more than 3 percent each, while Nintendo is up almost 3 percent.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In economic news, Japan posted a merchandise trade deficit of 3,496.6 billion yen in January, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday. That exceeded expectations for a shortfall of 3,871.5 billion yen following the 1,451.8 billion yen deficit in December. Exports were up 3.5 percent on year, beating forecasts for 0.8 percent and down from 11.5 percent in the previous month. Imports climbed an annual 17.8 percent versus forecasts for 18.4 percent, down from 20.7 percent a month earlier.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Office said the value of core machine orders in Japan was up a seasonally adjusted 1.6 percent on month in December, coming in at 851.9 billion yen. That was shy of expectations for an increase of 3.0 percent following the 8.3 percent drop in November.

On a yearly basis, core machine orders sank 6.6 percent - also missing forecasts for a decline of 6.0 percent following the 3.7 percent decline in the previous month. For the fourth quarter of 2022, orders were down 5.0 percent on quarter and 3.6 percent on year. For the first quarter of 2023, orders are seen higher by 4.3 percent on quarter and 4.1 percent on year.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 133 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks regained ground over the course of the trading session after an initial move to the downside on Wednesday. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day and eventually closed in positive territory.

The major averages all finished the day higher, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the advance. While the Nasdaq jumped 110.45 points or 0.9 percent to 12,070.59, the S&P 500 rose 11.47 points or 0.3 percent to 4,147.60 and the Dow inched up 38.78 points or 0.1 percent to 34,128.05.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.2 percent, the German DAX Index advanced by 0.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.6 percent. Crude oil prices came off daily lows but still moved solidly lower on Wednesday, hurt by a stronger U.S. dollar and a spike in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate was down $0.47 or 0.6 percent to $78.59 per barrel.