TOKYO
(dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is notably higher on Thursday, with the dovish tone of the
U.S.
Federal Reserve boosting investor sentiment. Following its two-day policy meeting, the Fed left its interest rate unchanged and also indicated that it is no hurry to raise interest rates.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is gaining 229.63 points or 1.35 percent to 17,204.08, off high of 17,253.03 earlier.
The major exporters are higher despite a stronger yen and data showing that
Japan's
exports fell for a fifth straight month.
Sony is rising more than 3 percent, Sharp is up more than 2 percent and
Toshiba is advancing more than 3 percent, while
Canon is declining less than 1 percent.
Automaker Toyota is up more than 1 percent and Honda is gaining more than 2 percent. In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is rising more than 2 percent.
In the oil space, Inpex is higher by more than 4 percent and refiner JX Holdings is adding almost 2 percent following the spike in crude oil prices overnight.
Office furniture maker Okamura Corp. is rising more than 5 percent after it raised its full-year operating forecast.
Among the other major gainers, Advantest Corp. is gaining almost 5 percent and Kobe Steel is rising almost 4 percent. Meanwhile, Toho Railway is losing almost 2 percent and Asahi Group is down more than 1 percent.
On the economic front, the Ministry of Finance said that
Japan
posted a merchandise trade surplus of
242.77 billion yen in February. That missed forecasts for a surplus of
395.1 billion yen following the
648.8 billion yen deficit in January.
Exports were down 4.0 percent on year in February, shy of estimates for a decline of 3.0 percent following the 12.9 percent decline in the previous month. Imports fell an annual 14.2 percent versus forecasts for 15.8 percent following the 17.8 percent contraction a month earlier.
In the currency market, the
U.S.
dollar traded in the upper
112 yen-level on Thursday, down from Wednesday's close in the upper
113 yen-range in
Tokyo
.
On Wall Street, stocks closed higher on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve announced its widely-expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged in a range from 0.25 percent to 0.50 percent. The Fed's revised forecast for interest rates showed that officials expect rates to be lower at the end of the year than predicted in December.
The Dow rose 74.23 points or 0.4 percent to 17,325.76, the Nasdaq advanced 35.30 points or 0.8 percent to 4,763.97 and the S&P 500 climbed 11.29 points of 0.6 percent to 2,027.22.
The major European markets ended Wednesday mixed ahead of the Fed announcement. While the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index and the
U.K.'s
FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.5 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.
Crude oil futures rallied Wednesday as the Federal Reserve's dovish interest rate statement weakened the
U.S.
dollar. WTI oil for April delivery rose
$2.12 or 5.8 percent to end at
$38.46 a barrel on the
New York Mercantile Exchange.
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