Japanese Market Marginally Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is marginally higher on Thursday after treading into the red briefly, extending the gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 staying above the 27,700 level, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, as traders reacted to the US Fed's widely anticipated interest rate hike and comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell that hinted at a slowdown in the pace of future rate hikes.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 25.00 points or 0.09 percent to 27,740.75, after touching a high of 28,015.68 earlier. Japanese stocks closed modestly higher on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is flat. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.3 percent and Toyota is losing almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is gaining almost 1 percent, while Advantest is losing almost 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is edging down 0.3 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are edging down 0.3 to 0.5 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric and Sony are edging down 0.3 percent each, while Canon is losing more than 1 percent. Panasonic is flat. Among the other major gainers, Mitsubishi Motors is skyrocketing almost 13 percent, M3 is soaring almost 10 percent, Chubu Electric Power is surging almost 9 percent, Recruit Holdings is gaining more than 4 percent and Shin-Etsu Chemical is adding almost 4 percent, while Tokyo Gas, Z Holdings and Nissan Motor are up more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, CyberAgent is losing more than 5 percent and Japan Exchange Group is down almost 4 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 135 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a substantial move back to the upside during trading on Wednesday following the sell-off seen during Tuesday's session. The major averages more than offset Tuesday's losses, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching their best closing levels in well over a month.

The major averages pulled back off their intraday highs going into the close but held on strong gains. While the Nasdaq spiked 469.85 points or 4.1 percent to 12,032.42, the S&P 500 surged 102.56 points or 2.6 percent to 4,023.61 and the Dow jumped 436.05 points or 1.4 percent at 32,197.59.

The major European markets all also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.8 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.6 percent and the German DAX Index rose by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices surged higher Wednesday after data showed a drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, while cuts in Russian gas flows to Europe also contributed as oil's sharp rise. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September climbed $2.28 or 2.4 percent at $97.26 a barrel.