Market Commentary and Intraday News

Japanese Market Recovers After Early Setback

263 days ago

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is swinging between gains and losses on Tuesday with investors looking for cues. A strong dollar and worries about the economic situation in Europe following Moody's Investors Service cutting the outlook for the European Union appear to be prompting traders to tread cautiously.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which declined to around 8,730 after opening flat, is currently trading in positive territory at 8,794, up 10.1 points or 0.1 percent from its previous close.

Sharp Corp. shares are up more than 9 percent. Pioneer Corp. (PC), Ebara, NTN Corp., Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Panasonic Corp., Nisshin Steel, JFE Holdings and Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding are trading higher by 2.5 to 4.5 percent.

Shares of Inpex Corp. moved up sharply following a rating upgrade. Pacific Metals, Japan Steel Works, Mitsui Chemicals, Dainippon Screen Manufacturing, Hitachi, Mitsumi Electric, Advantest Corp. (ATE), Mitsui OSK Lines and Kansai Electric Power are also trading sharply higher.

Among the stocks that are trading lower, Japan Tobacco is down more than 3 percent and Softbank Corp. is down with a loss of 2.6 percent.

Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) shares are trading weak following a drop in the company's sales in China. Mitsubishi Paper Mills, Sony Financial Holdings, Tobu Railway, East Japan Railway, West Japan Railway and Takashimaya are also trading notably lower.

On the economic front, the monetary base in Japan was up 6.5 percent on year at 1,214.636 billion yen in August, the Bank of Japan said. That follows the 8.6 percent annual expansion in July.

Banknotes in circulation were up an annual 2.4 percent, while coins in circulation added 0.3 percent. Current account balances spiked 18.0 percent on year, including a 20.7 percent annual surge in reserve balances.

The seasonally adjusted monetary base was down 14.7 percent to 1,211.542 billion yen following the 32.4 percent surge in July.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the lower 78 yen range in early deals in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 78.36 to the dollar.

Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia, Malaysia and South Korea are trading weak. Shanghai, New Zealand and Singapore are trading modestly higher, while Hong Kong and Taiwan are trading flat.

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