Japanese Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is trading significantly higher on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving well above the 35,100 mark, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 286.03 points or 0.82 percent to 35,154.66, after touching a high of 35,287.95 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Wednesday.

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

In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are gaining more than 3 percent each, while Screen Holdings is adding more than 1 percent.

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

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is gaining more than 1 percent, Panasonic is adding 2.5 percent and Canon is up almost 1 percent. Sony is flat.

Among other major gainers, Yaskawa Electric is surging almost 6 percent, Sumitomo Electric Industries is advancing more than 5 percent and Ebara is gaining almost 5 percent, while Sumco and Nintendo are adding more than 4 percent each. SMC, Dai-ichi Life and Isetan Mitsukoshi are rising almost 4 percent each, while Taiyo Yuden, Fujikura, JTEKT, Nippon Electric Glass and TDK are up more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, Nitori Holdings is declining almost 5 percent and East Japan Railway is losing almost 4 percent, while West Japan Railway, Ryohin Keikaku and Toho are down almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 143 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks gave back ground over the course of the trading day on Wednesday following a substantial move to the upside early in the session, but held on to strong gains. The major averages all ended the day sharply higher, with the Nasdaq posting a particularly strong gain.

The Nasdaq soared as much as 4.5 percent in early trading before pulling back but still closed up 407.63 points or 2.5 percent at 16,708.05. The S&P 500 also shot up 88.10 points or 1.7 percent to 5,375.86 and the Dow jumped 419.59 points or 1.1 percent at 39,606.57.

The major European markets also showed strong moves to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index spiked by 3.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index shot up by 2.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.9 percent.

Crude oil prices moved sharply lower on Wednesday after reports suggested that OPEC may accelerate oil output hikes in June for a second consecutive month. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery tumbled $1.52 or 2.4 percent to $62.15 a barrel.