The Japanese stock market is notably higher on Thursday following the overnight gains on Wall Street despite the release of strong-than-expected U.S. inflation data. Investors also shrugged off a stronger yen and weaker-than-expected Japanese core machine orders data.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is rising 336.46 points or 1.59 percent to 21,490.63, off a high of 21,520.83 earlier.
The major exporters are gaining despite a stronger yen. Sony is rising almost 2 percent, while Panasonic and Canon are adding more than 1 percent each. Mitsubishi Electric is adding almost 1 percent. SoftBank is up almost 1 percent.
Among automakers, Toyota is rising 0.4 percent and Honda is advancing almost 1 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are gaining more than 2 percent each.
In the oil space, Inpex is adding more than 1 percent and Japan Petroleum Exploration is higher by almost 2 percent after crude oil prices rose overnight.
Among the market's best performers, Kirin Holdings is rising more than 7 percent, Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma is gaining 7 percent and Showa Denko is higher by more than 5 percent.
On the flip side, Eisai Co. is losing almost 5 percent, while Kubota Corp. and MS&AD Insurance are declining more than 3 percent each.
In economic news, the Cabinet Office said that the value of core machine orders in Japan plunged a seasonally adjusted 11.9 percent on month in December - coming in at 792.6 billion yen. The headline figure was well shy of forecasts for a decline of 2.0 percent following the 5.7 percent gain in November.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid 106 yen-range on Thursday.
On Wall Street, stocks rebounded on Wednesday after initially moving to the downside as a report from the Labor Department showed a bigger than expected increase in consumer prices in the month of January.
The Dow jumped 253.04 points or 1 percent at 24,893.49, the Nasdaq soared 130.10 points or 1.9 percent to 7,143.62 and the S&P 500 surged up 35.69 points or 1.3 percent to 2,698.63.
The major European markets also moved higher on Wednesday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index surged up by 1.1 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.
Crude oil futures nudged back above $60 a barrel Wednesday, as the U.S. dollar weakened on downbeat economic data. March oil futures rose 2.4 percent to $60.60 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, moving back near January's 4-year peak near $66.
by RTT Staff Writer
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