Japanese Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - Recouping some of the losses in the previous three sessions, the Japanese market is modestly higher on Thursday after opening in the red, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving up to be a tad below the 38,200 level, with gains in exporters and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 86.50 points or 0.23 percent to 38,191.36, after hitting a low of 37,712.19 and a high of 38,320.39 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing 1.5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is edging down 0.5 percent and Honda is flat.

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

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Canon is gaining more than 1 percent, Sony is edging up 0.3 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 1 percent, while Panasonic is flat.

Among other major gainers, Konica Minolta is gaining almost 5 percent and IHI is adding more than 4 percent, while BANDAI NAMCO, Kanadevia and Seven & I Holdings are advancing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 152 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks came under pressure early in the session on Wednesday and saw further downside over the course of the trading day. The major averages all moved notably lower, with the Dow and the S&P 500 extending their losing streaks to three days.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels late in the session but remained firmly negative. The Dow slumped 409.94 points or 1.0 percent to 42,514.95, the Nasdaq tumbled 296.47 points or 1.6 percent to 18,276.65 and the S&P 500 slid 53.78 points or 0.9 percent to 5,797.42.

The major European markets also ended the day lower. While the German DAX Index dipped by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.5 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices fell on Wednesday, weighed down by data showing a larger than expected increase in U.S. crude oil inventories last week, while a stronger dollar also weighed. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December fell $0.97 or 1.35 percent at $70.77 a barrel.