A mixed to higher open is expected Thursday for Japan stocks, with Wall Street providing a strong overnight lead. Word that Moody's was about to review U.S. credit worthiness is likely to add to traders' jitters.
Japan's market joined others in the Asia/Pacific region in moving higher on Wednesday, reacting to better than expected economic growth data from China.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 average rose 37.22 points or 0.37 percent to close at 9,963.14.
The TOPIX index of all trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section rose 3.34 points or 0.39 percent to 860.53.
Trading volume remained low at 1.752 billion shares.
Advancing stocks outnumbered decliners 932 to 571 with 168 unchanged.
Among the industrials, heavy machinery maker Komatsu closed up 0.8 percent while industrial robotics maker Fanuc added 1.3 percent.
Major exporters were weak after the yen gained strength, with Nikon dropping 2.7 percent and Olympus down 1.4 percent. Sony bucked the trend with a gain of 0.3 percent.
Chip makers were lower, with Advantest down 0.9 percent, Tokyo Electron down 1.1 percent and Tokyo Seimitsu down 2.2 percent.
The U.S. stock market moved higher on Wednesday, although closing well off its early highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 12,491.61, a gain of 44.73 points or 0.36 percent. The Dow was higher by about 160 points earlier in the day. The Nasdaq Composite index closed up 15.01 points or 0.54 percent at 2,796.92 and the S&P 500 index was up 4.08 points or 0.31 percent at 1,217.72.
All of the other major Asia/Pacific region markets except Taiwan's closed higher on Wednesday.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was up 263.72 points or 1.22 percent at 21,927.88.
China's Shanghai Composite index was up 40.89 points or 1.48 percent at 2,795.48.
In India, the BSE 30/SENSEX index was up 184.40 points or 1.00 percent at 18,596.02.
The Jakarta Composite index in Indonesia was up 42.83 points or 1.09 percent at 3,980.84.
South Korea's KOSPI/Seoul Composite index rose 19.91 points or 0.36 percent to 2,129.64.
The Taiwan Weighted Index was down 2.95 points or 0.03 percent at 8,448.06.
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