Japanese Market Sharply Higher, Up 2.5%

(RTTNews) - Extending the gains in the previous session, the Japanese market is sharply higher on Thursday, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving a tad above the 37,300 level, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights, financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 920.73 points or 2.53 percent to 37,300.90, after touching a high of 37,321.40 earlier. Japanese shares ended notably higher on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 2 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is also adding almost 2 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining more than 5 percent, while Honda is adding more than 4 percent.

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

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is gaining more than 3 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are adding almost 3 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Canon and Sony are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Panasonic is adding almost 3 percent. Mitsubishi Electric is losing almost 2 percent.

Among other major gainers, Sumitomo Pharma is surging almost 6 percent, while Nippon Yusen K.K. and Resonac Holdings are gaining almost 5 percent each. Lasertec, Mitsui & Co., Denso, Concordia Financial Group, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Hitachi, Toyota Tsusho and Subaru are adding more than 4 percent each, while Recruit Holdings and MS&AD Insurance Group are up almost 4 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

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

On Wall Street, stocks saw considerable volatility late in the trading session on Wednesday following the Federal Reserve's announcement of its decision to lower interest rates. The major averages showed wild swings back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing in negative territory.

The Dow and the S&P 500 reached new record intraday highs immediately following the Fed announcement but finished the day in the red. The Dow fell 103.08 points or 0.3 percent to 41,503.10, the S&P 500 slipped 16.32 points or 0.3 percent to 5,618.26 and the Nasdaq dipped 54.76 points or 0.3 percent to 17,573.30.

The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.4 percent, the German Index and the French CAC 40 Index both climbed by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices settled lower on Wednesday, despite a drop in U.S. crude inventories and the rate cut. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for October ended down $0.28 or 0.39 percent at $70.91 a barrel.