Japanese Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - Recouping some of the losses in the previous session, the Japanese market is slightly higher on Thursday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving a tad above the 38,900 level, with gains in index heavyweights and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in exporters and automakers.

Traders also remain cautious ahead of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy decision later in the week, with the central bank widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 29.01 points or 0.07 percent to 38,905.72, after touching a high of 39,252.44 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly lower on Wednesday.

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

In the tech space, Advantest is advancing almost 3 percent, while Tokyo Electron and Screen Holdings are losing almost 1 percent each.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are losing more than 1 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Canon is losing almost 2 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is declining almost 3 percent and Panasonic is down almost 1 percent, while Sony is gaining more than 1 percent.

Among other major gainers, Renesas Electronics is surging almost 7 percent, while Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, CyberAgent and Taiyo Yuden are gaining more than 3 percent each. Disco, Daikin Industries, Recruit Holdings and Murata Manufacturing are adding almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Sumitomo Pharma is losing almost 4 percent, while Konica Minolta, Denka, Tokyo Electric Power, Chubu Electric Power and Sumitomo Chemical are declining more than 3 percent each. T&D Holdings, Astellas Pharma, Concordia Financial, Mitsubishi, Eisai, Mitsubishi Chemical and Kansai Electric Power are down almost 3 percent each.

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

On Wall Street, stocks saw some volatility after an early rally on tamer than expected consumer price inflation data, but still managed to end Wednesday's trading mostly higher following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement.

The Nasdaq surged 264.89 points or 1.5 percent to a new record closing high of 17,608.44 and the S&P 500 also reached a new record closing high, jumping 45.71 points or 0.9 percent to 5,421.03. Meanwhile, the narrower Dow ended the day down 35.21 points or 0.1 percent at 38,712.21.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved notably higher on the day. While the German DAX Index shot up by 1.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.0 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.8 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Wednesday on hopes of increased demand and tighter supply conditions later in the year, as well as a weak dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July rose $0.60 at $78.50 a barrel.