Japanese Market Advances

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is advancing on Thursday, with investor sentiment bolstered by a slightly weaker yen and the positive lead overnight from Wall Street after U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled his tax reform plans.

In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 64.91 points or 0.32 percent to 20,331.96, off a high of 20,399.43 in early trades.

The major exporters are mostly higher on a weaker yen. Sony is rising 0.6 percent, Panasonic is up 0.5 percent and Canon is adding 0.4 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is declining 0.6 percent.

Among automakers, Toyota is down 0.2 percent and Honda is edging lower by less than 0.1 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is advancing almost 1 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is rising 0.6 percent.

In the oil space, Inpex and Japan Petroleum Exploration are advancing more than 1 percent each.

Among the best performers, Tokai Carbon is rising more than 16 percent, Showa Denko is advancing more than 7 percent and FamilyMart UNY Holdings is higher by almost 5 percent.

On the flip side, Tokyo Electric Power is losing more than 2 percent, while Sumitomo Osaka Cement and Nippon Express are down 2 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 112 yen-range on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks closed higher on Wednesday, partly due to a positive reaction to the release of a Republican tax reform plan that calls for a reduction in the corporate tax rate to 20 percent.

Buying interest was also generated by a report from the Commerce Department showing a bigger than expected jump in durable goods orders in the month of August.

The Nasdaq jumped 73.10 points or 1.2 percent to 6,453.26, the Dow rose 56.39 points or 0.3 percent to 22,340.71 and the S&P 500 climbed 10.20 points or 0.4 percent to 2,507.04.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on Wednesday. While the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both advanced by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil futures continued to rise Wednesday, as U.S. oil inventories unexpectedly dwindled as refineries got back to work post-Hurricane Harvey. WTI crude added $0.26 or 0.5 percent to close at $52.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.