Total 30 issues of 33 industry category of Topix index were in positive territory, with Mining, Oil & Coal Products, Nonferrous Metals, Marine Transportation, Glass & Ceramics Products, and Metal Products issues being notable gainers, while Pharmaceutical and Air Transportation issues were notable losers.
Buying interest was generated in the Tokyo markets on substantial rebound in oil prices following the historic drop seen earlier this week. The West Texas Intermediate contract for June was up 19%, settling at $13.78 per barrel on Wednesday. Brent futures, meanwhile, were up 7.6% at $20.76 per barrel on Wednesday The front month crude oil contract turned negative for the first time in history on Monday, and later month futures showed another substantial move to the downside on Tuesday.
In the Asian trading hours on Thursday, international benchmark Brent crude futures gained 2.99% to $20.98 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate for June delivery also jumped 3.85% to $14.31 per barrel.
The rebound in crude oil prices provided a sense of relief to investors, pushing up the market, as there were concerns about the possible collapse of the energy industry due to the sharp oil price drop.
Shares of mining as well as oil and coal product issues rose after the June delivery contract for benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil recovered some of the recent sharp losses on hopes for further production cuts to reduce the oil glut. Inpex rose more than 5% and Japan Petroleum added more than 3%.
The major exporters were higher on a weaker yen. Panasonic rose more than 1%, Mitsubishi Electric added 1%, Sony was higher by 0.6% and Canon was up 0.4%.
ECONOMIC NEWS: Japan Manufacturing PMI Contracts To 37.8 In April- Japan manufacturing sector continued to contract in April with a PMI score of 37.8, the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed on Thursday. That's down from 41.1 in March and it moves further beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. Individually, output, new orders, new export orders, employment, backlogs of work and input prices all declined at a faster rate as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The survey also showed that the services index came in with a score of 22.8 and the composite was at 27.8.
CURRENCY: The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 100.38 after seeing lows around 100 yesterday. The Japanese yen traded at 107.74 per dollar after seeing levels below 107.6 earlier in the trading week.
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