TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is rising on Thursday despite the mixed cues overnight from Wall Street, with a weaker yen lifting exporters' shares. Investors are cautious as they look ahead to the Trump-Xi Jinping meeting at the G-20 summit later this week.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 73.98 points or 0.35 percent to 21,160.57, after touching a high of 21,177.98 earlier. Japanese shares fell on Wednesday.
The major exporters are mostly higher on a weaker yen. Mitsubishi Electric is rising more than 1 percent, Panasonic is advancing almost 1 percent and Canon is adding 0.3 percent, while Sony is edging down 0.1 percent.
Among tech stocks, Tokyo Electron is rising more than 3 percent and Advantest is higher by almost 2 percent, following their U.S. peers higher.
Shares of Japan Display are gaining 25 percent after the Japanese Asahi newspaper reported that tech giant Apple has decided to invest $100 million in the company, which is currently undergoing a major restructuring.
In the oil sector, Inpex is adding more than 1 percent and Japan Petroleum is up 0.3 percent after crude oil prices surged overnight.
Market heavyweight SoftBank is advancing almost 3 percent, while Fast Retailing is lower by almost 1 percent. In the auto space, Honda Motor is up more than 1 percent and Toyota Motor is rising 0.5 percent.
Among the major gainers, Sumco Corp. and Screen Holdings are rising more than 4 percent each, while Tokyo Electron, Yaskawa Electric and TDK Corp. are all higher by more than 3 percent each.
On the flip side, Chiyoda Corp. is losing more than 5 percent, Tokyo Dome is lower by almost 5 percent and Nippon Kayaku Co. is declining almost 4 percent.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said that retail sales in Japan were up a seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent on month in May, shy of expectations for a gain of 0.6 percent following the downwardly revised 0.1 percent drop in April.
In addition, the Bank of Japan will release first-quarter data for money flow.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 107 yen range on Thursday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed mixed on Wednesday after seeing early strength as comments from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin generated optimism about a potential U.S.-China trade deal. Buying interest waned over the course of the morning, however, as traders seemed reluctant to make more significant news as they waited for more concrete developments out of the talks.
While the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 25.25 points or 0.3 percent to 7,909.97, the Dow edged down 11.40 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 26,536.82 and the S&P 500 closed lower for the fourth straight session, dipping 3.60 points or 0.1 percent to 2,913.78.
The major European markets also turned mixed over the course of the session on Wednesday. While the German DAX Index inched up by 0.1, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.3 percent.
Crude oil futures ended sharply higher on Wednesday, lifted by data showing a much bigger than expected fall in U.S. crude stockpiles in the week ended June 21. WTI crude for August delivery spiked $1.55 or 2.7 percent to close at $59.38 a barrel.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX