Japanese Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is significantly higher on Thursday, snapping a five-session losing streak, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving well above the 39,700 level, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 297.43 points or 0.77 percent to 39,742.01, after touching a high of 39,932.54 earlier. Japanese shares ended slightly lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is declining almost 2 percent and Honda is losing more than 1 percent.

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

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.5 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding more than 1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 1 percent, while Canon and Sony are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each. Panasonic is losing more than 1 percent.

Among other major gainers, Hino Motors is soaring almost 8 percent, CyberAgent is surging more than 5 percent and Toho is gaining almost 5 percent, while Japan Steel Works, Nomura Holdings, Nitori Holdings and Recruit Holdings are adding almost 4 percent each. Renesas Electronics, Yaskawa Electric and Furukawa Electric are advancing more than 3 percent each, while Toto and IHI are up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Murata Manufacturing is losing almost 5 percent and Nissan Motor is declining almost 4 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 156 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher early in the session on Wednesday and continued to turn in a strong performance throughout the trading day. The major averages all surged after ending Tuesday's trading narrowly mixed.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq posted a standout gain, soaring 466.84 points or 2.5 percent to 19,511.23 after ending the previous session at its lowest closing level in almost two months. The Dow also jumped 703.27 points or 1.7 percent to 43,221.55, while the S&P 500 shot up 107.00 points or 1.8 percent to 5,949.91.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index surged by 1.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.2 percent and the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.7 percent.

Crude oil prices spiked Wednesday as crude inventories in the U.S. dropped last week, while possible supply disruptions due to new sanctions against Russia also supported prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February rose $2.54 or 3.3 percent at $80.04 a barrel.