Japanese Market Sharply Higher, Up 4%

(RTTNews) - The Japanese market is sharply higher on Thursday, snapping a three-session losing streak, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is surging more than 4 percent to above the 56,500 level, with gains across all sectors led by index heavyweights, exporters and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 2,265.10 points or 4.18 percent to 56,510.64, after touching a high of 56,619.98 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply lower on Wednesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is jumping almost 8 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is gaining almost 2 percent and Honda is adding almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is jumping almost 7 percent, Screen Holdings is advancing almost 4 percent and Tokyo Electron is surging more than 6 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are surging almost 5 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is jumping almost 9 percent.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is surging almost 5 percent, Sony is gaining almost 2 percent, Canon is adding more than 2 percent and Panasonic is jumping more than 5 percent.

Among other major gainers, Nippon Electric Glass is soaring almost 11 percent, while Fujikura and Resona Holdings are jumping almost 8 percent each. Sumco, Mitsui & Co. and Furukawa Electric are surging more than 7 percent each. Mitsui Kinzoku and Denka are advancing almost 7 percent each, while Shin-Etsu Chemical, Yokohama Financial, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Omron are gaining more than 6 percent each.

Conversely, Kyowa Kirin is losing more than 3 percent.

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

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Wednesday, partly offsetting the weakness seen in the previous session. The major averages all moved to the upside on the day, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the charge.

The major averages ended the day off their highs of the session but still firmly positive. The Nasdaq jumped 290.79 points or 1.3 percent to 22,807.48, the S&P 500 advanced 52.87 points or 0.8 percent to 6,869.50 and the Dow climbed 238.14 points or 0.5 percent to 48,739.41.

The major European markets also moved back to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index jumped by 1.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both advanced by 0.8 percent.

Crude oil prices surged on Wednesday. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery was up $1.13 or 1.51 percent at $75.79 per barrel.