Japanese Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is trading slightly higher in choppy session on Thursday after opening well in the red, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving above the 53,400 level, with gains in automaker stocks and a mixed performance in most other sectors.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 44.28 points or 0.08 percent to 53,402.99, after hitting a low of 52,990.42 earlier. Japanese shares ended slightly higher on Wednesday.

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

In the tech space, Advantest is surging more than 7 percent, while Screen Holdings is down more than 1 percent and Tokyo Electron is losing more than 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging up 0.4 percent.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric and Panasonic are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Canon and Sony are edging down 0.2 percent each.

Among other major gainers, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is gaining more than 3 percent and Sumitomo Metal Mining is advancing almost 3 percent.

Conversely, BayCurrent is plunging more than 7 percent, SHIFT is tumbling more than 5 percent and Fujikura is slipping more than 4 percent, while Sumitomo Pharma and Nitori Holdings are losing almost 4 percent each. Aeon, Recruit Holdings, Lasertec, Disco and NEXON are declining more than 3 percent each, while M3, NEC and Isetan Mitsukoshi are down almost 3 percent each.

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

On Wall Street, stock indexes quickly gave back ground and spent much of the rest of Wednesday's session lingering near the unchanged line after failing to sustain an early move to the upside. The major averages eventually ended the day narrowly mixed.

While the S&P 500 edged down 0.57 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 6,978.03, the Dow crept up 12.19 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 49,015.60 and the Nasdaq rose 40.35 points or 0.2 percent to 23,857.45.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slumped 1.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.5 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices soared on Wednesday as Iran rejected any nuclear talks under threat even as a massive U.S. armada nears the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was up $0.85 or 1.36 percent at $63.24 per barrel.