TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is modestly higher on Thursday following the record highs overnight on Wall Street. Investors are cautious as they look ahead to monetary policy decisions by the European Central Bank later today and the U.S. Federal Reserve next week.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 62.24 points or 0.29 percent to 21,771.81, after touching a high of 21,823.07 earlier, its highest since May 7. Japanese stocks hit a two-and-a-half week high on Wednesday.
The major exporters are mostly lower despite a weaker yen. Sony is declining almost 1 percent and Panasonic is down 0.5 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is adding 0.2 percent.
Shares of Canon are lower by more than 2 percent after the digital camera maker reported a fall in net income for the second quarter and also lowered its fiscal 2019 outlook.
In the tech space, Advantest is gaining more than 18 percent and Tokyo Electron is higher by more than 1 percent, following strong gains by their U.S. peers overnight. Advantest reported sales for the quarter ended June that were not as weak as expected.
Market heavyweight SoftBank is rising more than 2 percent after the Wall Street Journal reported that the telecom giant is expected to announce a $40 billion investment in its new technology fund.
In the auto space, Toyota Motor is up 0.2 percent, while Honda Motor is lower by 0.6 percent.
In the oil sector, Inpex is declining more than 1 percent and Japan Petroleum is lower by almost 1 percent after crude oil prices fell overnight.
Among the other major gainers, Cyberagent is gaining almost 8 percent, Shin-Etsu Chemical is higher by almost 7 percent and Screen Holdings is rising almost 4 percent.
On the flip side, Mitsubishi Motors is losing almost 4 percent, while Fuji Electric, Suzuki Motor and Nissan Motor are all lower by more than 2 percent each.
On the economic front, the Bank of Japan said that producer prices in Japan were up 0.7 percent on year in June - shy of expectations for 0.8 percent and down from the upwardly revised 0.9 percent gain in May.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 108 yen range on Thursday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed mixed on Wednesday, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 touching new record highs on strong gains by tech stocks and banks. The narrower Dow bucked the uptrend, however, with a steep drop by Caterpillar and Boeing weighing on the blue chip index.
While the Dow fell 79.22 points or 0.3 percent to 27,269.97, the Nasdaq jumped 70.10 points or 0.9 percent to 8,321.50 and the S&P 500 climbed 14.09 points or 0.5 percent to 3,019.56.
The major European markets also turned in a mixed performance on Wednesday. While the German DAX Index rose by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.7 percent.
Crude oil futures ended lower on Wednesday, even as data from the Energy Information Administration showed a much larger than expected drop in crude stockpiles in the U.S. last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September declined $0.89 or about 1.6 percent to close at $55.88 a barrel.
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