TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese market is trading notably higher on Thursday, reversing some of the losses in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving well above the 62,450 level, with gains in automakers, retailers and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in technology stocks.
Technology and AI-related stocks tumbled on potential implications for data-center development under Democratic control of the US Congress.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 288.13 points or 0.46 percent to 62,476.76, after touching a high of 62,615.98 earlier. Japanese stocks ended sharply lower on Wednesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 5 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is soaring more than 11 percent. Among automakers, Toyota and Honda are surging almost 6 percent each.
In the tech space, Advantest is tumbling more than 10 percent, Screen Holdings is sliding more than 7 percent and Tokyo Electron is plunging more than 8 percent.
In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is advancing almost 4 percent.
Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is losing more than 2 percent and Panasonic is declining more than 5 percent, while Sony is surging almost 8 percent and Canon is gaining almost 4 percent.
Among other major gainers, Konami Group is skyrocketing almost 12 percent, Sumitomo Pharma is soaring more than 8 percent and Mitsubishi Motors is jumping more than 9 percent, while Mitsubishi Estate and Capcom are surging more than 9 percent each. Yokohama Rubber, Terumo and Astellas Pharma are advancing almost 9 percent each, while BANDAI NAMCO is gaining more than 8 percent. Sapporo Holdings and Kyowa Kirin are adding almost 8 percent each. NEXON and Shiseido are up more than 7 percent each.
Conversely, Ibiden is plummeting almost 15 percent and Kokusai Electric is plunging almost 13 percent, while Murata Manufacturing, Sumco, Yokogawa Electric, Furukawa Electric and OKUMA are tumbling almost 11 percent each. Lasertec and Taiyo Yuden are declining more than 9 percent each, while Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha and Kioxia Holdings are losing almost 9 percent each. Resona Holdings is slipping more than 8 percent and Fujikura is down more than 7 percent.
In economic news, the services sector in Japan continued to expand in October, and at a faster rate, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Thursday with a services PMI score of 51.7. That's up from 51.3 in September and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also showed that the composite index eased to 52.1 in October from 52.3 in September.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 157 yen-range on Thursday.
On Wall Street, major stock indexes all showed significant moves to the upside following the mixed performances seen in the two previous sessions. The Dow showed a particularly strong upward move, reaching a two-month closing high.
The major averages gave back some ground going into the end of the day but remained sharply higher. The Dow surged 1,569.40 points or 3 percent to 53,356.12, the S&P 500 jumped 119.70 points or 1.6 percent to 7,688.62 and the Nasdaq shot up 364.50 points or 1.4 percent to 25,736.51.
The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index shot up b 2.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 1.8 percent.
Crude oil prices tumbled on Wednesday, losing the geopolitical risk premium as a comfortable victory for the Democrat party in the U.S. midterm elections eased concerns of renewed U.S.-Iran escalation. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $8.39 or 8.73 percent at $87.70 per barrel.
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