The Japanese market experienced a significant rise on Thursday, continuing the previous two sessions’ gains. This improvement comes in the wake of positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 index, a barometer of the Japanese stock market, has crossed the 40,500 mark, reaching record highs. This uptick is supported by widespread gains across various sectors, especially by market influencers and financial stocks, in response to the US Federal Reserve’s anticipated three interest rate cuts this year.The Nikkei 225 increased by 506.44 points or 1.27 percent to 40,510.04, touching an all-time high of 40,748.77 in the process. Market giants SoftBank Group and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing marked gains of over 2 percent and close to 2 percent, respectively. Auto manufacturers Toyota and Honda also showed an upward trend, with more than 3 percent and over 1 percent gains, respectively.In the technology sector, Advantest slightly rose by 0.2 percent, while Tokyo Electron and Screen Holdings experienced more than 2 percent and over 1 percent gains, respectively. Within the banking sector, nearly 1 percent growth was seen in Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial each gained almost 2 percent.Major exporters Canon and Panasonic saw growth of over 1 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric and Sony each gained approximately 1 percent. Among the top gainers, Nidec and UBE both showed impressive growth of over 5 percent each.Meanwhile, Japan’s manufacturing sector continued its contraction in March, albeit slower than before, according to Jibun Bank’s latest survey. The manufacturing PMI score was 48.2, up from February’s 47.2 but still below the 50-point threshold that differentiates expansion from contraction.Japan recorded a merchandise trade deficit of 379.4 billion yen in February, as declared by the Ministry of Finance. This was a significant improvement over the anticipated deficit of 810.2 billion yen after January’s shortfall of 1,758.3 billion yen. Overall exports increased by 7.8 percent year over year, surpassing the forecasted 5.3 percent rise. In contrast, imports saw a modest 0.5 percent rise year over year.On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated for most of Wednesday’s trading session before rallying after the announcement of Federal Reserve’s financial policy. The market managed to reach new record closing highs. The Dow surged by 401.37 points or 1.0 percent to 39,512.13, and the S&P 500 went up by 46.11 points or 0.9 percent to end at 5,224.62. The Nasdaq also advanced 202.62 points or 1.3 percent to 16,369.41.European markets showed mixed results, with the German DAX Index rising 0.2 percent, while the French CAC 40 Index dipped 0.5 percent, and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index remained largely unchanged.Crude oil prices dipped significantly on Wednesday as traders locked in profits following recent gains. The relative strength of the dollar also contributed to this trend. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April dropped $1.79 or 2.1 percent to $81.68 a barrel.The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com
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