The Japanese stock market opened on a bright note on Thursday with investors tracking the overnight positive close on Wall Street and indulging in some brisk buying. However, with several stocks facing resistance at higher levels due to profit taking, the market pared most of its early gains and is currently down in negative territory.
Financial, electric power, insurance and automobile stocks opened on a strong note but are trading well off their highs now. Foods, machinery, retail and non-ferrous metals stocks are trading mixed.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which rose to 9,845.7 in early trades, is now trading at 9,792, down 5.2 points from its previous close.
Japan Steel Work is trading stronger by over 4 percent. Kansai Electric Power, Chubu Electric Power, Dentsu, CSK Corp., Taiheiyo Cement, Sony Corp., Sharp Corp., Credit Saison, Fukuoka Financial, Mitsui Chemicals, Sumitomo Metal Mining, JX HD and Nisshin Steel are also trading notably higher.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is trading nearly 2 percent up following a rating upgrade. Shizuoka Bank, Chiba Bank, Mizuho Financial and Shinsei Bank are among the other prominent gainers in the banking space.
Dai-ichi Life, Pioneer Corp., Oki Electric, Komatsu, Mitsubishi Paper, Fuji Electric, Tokyo Electronics, Ebara and Dainippon Screen are trading weak.
Automobile stocks Mitsubishi Motor, Hino Motors, Nissan Motor and Honda Motor are also trading lower.
According to the data released by the Ministry of Finance, Japanese residents purchased a net 304.0 billion yen in foreign bonds and notes in the week ended June 25. They also purchased a net 49.3 billion in foreign stocks last week, the data showed.
Foreign investors sold a net 978.7 billion yen in Japanese bonds and notes last week, and they also sold a net 31.8 billion yen in Japanese stocks.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded at the upper 80 yen range in early deals in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 80.60 to the U.S. dollar.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore are trading modestly higher. Taiwan is up marginally, while Malaysia and South Korea are trading weak. Markets across the region ended mostly higher on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, stocks moved higher on Wednesday on news the Greek parliament voted to approve a crucial package of austerity measures. Data showing a notable rebound in U.S. pending home sales in the month of May contributed to the surge as well.
The major averages ended firmly in positive territory despite seeing some volatility in afternoon trading. The Dow rose 72.7 points or 0.6 percent to 12,261.4, the Nasdaq ended up 11.2 points or 0.4 percent at 2,740.5 and the S&P 500 moved up 10.7 points or 0.8 percent to 1,307.4.
Major European markets ended with strong gains on Wednesday. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index ended up 1.5 percent, while the French CAC 40 index and the German DAX index gained 1.9 percent and 1.7 percent respectively.
Crude oil prices rose sharply on Wednesday following a sharp fall in U.S. crude and gasoline stocks. Light, sweet crude for August delivery ended up $1.88 or about 2 percent at $94.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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