TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is rising on Thursday following the overnight gains on Wall Street and on news that the U.S. and Japan have reached an initial trade deal. Investor sentiment was also buoyed by comments from President Donald Trump that a U.S.-China trade deal could come 'sooner than you think.'
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 102.45 points or 0.47 percent to 22,122.60, after touching a high of 22,184.91 in early trades. Japanese stocks declined 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 0.6 percent, while Sony is declining 0.7 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is declining more than 1 percent, while Tokyo Electron is adding more than 1 percent. In the auto sector, Toyota Motor is higher by 1 percent and Honda Motor is rising more than 1 percent.
Market heavyweight SoftBank is advancing more than 1 percent, while Fast Retailing is lower 1 percent.
Among oil stocks, Inpex is declining almost 1 percent and Japan Petroleum is lower by 0.4 percent after crude oil prices extended losses overnight.
Among the other major gainers, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is rising more than 5 percent, JFE Holdings is gaining almost 5 percent and Japan Steel Works is higher by more than 4 percent.
On the flip side, Dena Co. is losing almost 2 percent.
On the economic front, Japan will provide final August numbers for machine tool orders today.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 107 yen-range on Thursday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed higher on Wednesday following the release of the transcript of U.S. President Donald Trump's controversial call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The transcript confirmed Trump discussed a possible investigation of former Vice President and Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden in the call with Zelensky, although he does not directly link the issue to U.S. aid.
The Dow climbed 162.94 points or 0.6 percent to 26,970.71, the Nasdaq jumped 83.76 points or 1.1 percent to 8,077.39 and the S&P 500 rose 18.27 points or 0.6 percent to 2,984.87.
The major European markets also moved to the downside on Wednesday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just below the unchanged line, the German DAX Index fell by 0.6 percent and the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.8 percent.
Crude oil prices drifted lower on Wednesday after data showed a jump in U.S. crude inventories for a second successive week. WTI crude for November ended down $0.80 or 1.4 percent at $56.49 a barrel.
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