The Japanese stock market rebounded strongly on Thursday, reversing the losses of the previous session, and drawing strength from positive signals from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 surged over 2 percent, just surpassing the 38,600 mark, driven by widespread gains led by major index stocks and technology shares.
Investors responded positively to remarks made by Japan's newly appointed Minister of Economic Revitalization, who emphasized that the central bank should proceed cautiously with any further interest rate hikes, recognizing that exiting deflation is a gradual process.
Specifically, the Nikkei 225 Index jumped by 791.59 points, or 2.09 percent, reaching 38,600.35 after an earlier peak at 38,856.75. This recovery comes after a sharp decline in Japanese stocks on Wednesday.
Key players such as SoftBank Group and Fast Retailing, the operator of Uniqlo, saw gains exceeding 3 percent. In the automotive sector, Toyota rose nearly 3 percent, with Honda following close behind, adding more than 2 percent.
In the technology sector, Tokyo Electron climbed over 3 percent, while Advantest and Screen Holdings advanced by more than 4 percent each.
Conversely, within the banking sector, Mizuho Financial slipped nearly 2 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial went down by 0.3 percent, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial decreased almost 1 percent.
Major exporters Canon, Sony, and Mitsubishi Electric each rose by around 2 percent, with Panasonic making gains of over 3 percent.
Among notable outperformers, M3 soared over 8 percent. Disco and Sumitomo Pharma surged by more than 6 percent each. TDK and Mazda Motor gained upwards of 5 percent, and Mitsubishi Motors, Taiyo Yuden, Lasertec, and Daiichi Sankyo each climbed nearly 5 percent. Tokio Marine, Subaru, Renesas Electronics, Ajinomoto, and JTEKT also advanced by over 4 percent each.
Notably, there were no other significant decliners.
On the foreign exchange front, the U.S. dollar hovered in the upper 146 yen range on Thursday.
Turning to Wall Street, U.S. stocks exhibited minimal directional movement during Wednesday's trading session, as the main indices oscillated around the unchanged line and closed with slight gains. The Dow increased by 39.55 points, or 0.1 percent, to 42,196.52; the Nasdaq rose by 14.76 points, or 0.1 percent, to 17,925.12; and the S&P 500 edged up by 0.79 points, barely moving by less than one-tenth of a percent, to 5,709.54.
Meanwhile, the European markets concluded with mixed results. The German DAX Index dipped by 0.3 percent, while the French CAC 40 Index made a minor gain of 0.1 percent, with the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rising by 0.2 percent.
In the commodities market, crude oil prices edged higher on Wednesday, as traders anticipated supply reductions amid continuing tensions in the Middle East. Futures for West Texas Intermediate crude oil for November increased by $0.27, or 0.39 percent, to close at $70.10 per barrel.
