Japan Stock Markets Open Higher; Nikkei Up Over 100 Points

Japanese stock markets opened higher, with the Nikkei 225 gaining 0.59 percent, or 103 points to 17,439.50, and the TOPIX rising 0.45 percent, or 6.2 points to 1,388.23. The Nikkei 225 reached a 6-month high of 17,459.02 in the morning trade.

Japanese consumer prices dropped for the seventh consecutive month for September. The core consumer price index declined 0.5 percent year-over-year in September.

The country’s unemployment rate slipped to 3.0 percent last month, from 3.1 percent in August, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said. Household spending dropped 2.1 percent for the month.

USD/JPY was trading at 105.13 following the economic data, versus 105.25 before the data was released.

Hitachi Ltd (6501.T), Komatsu Ltd (6301.T) and Mitsubishi Motors Corp (7211.T) are scheduled to report earnings on Friday.

West Texas Intermediate for December delivery rose 0.04 percent to trade at $49.74 per barrel on the NYMEX, while Brent for December settlement gained 0.08 percent to $50.51 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange.

Top market movers among the Nikkei 225 index are as follows:

• Shares of Sumco Corp (3436: TYO) climbed over 8 percent to 1,008.00 JPY.
• Jtekt Corp (6473: TYO) shares rose around 4.5 percent to 1,636.00 JPY.
• Nomura Holdings Inc (8604: TYO) shares increased over 4 percent to 522.10 JPY.

• Fuji Electric Co Ltd (6504: TYO) shares dropped around 6 percent to 492.00 JPY.
• Kao Corp (4452: TYO) shares fell 5.5 percent to 5,432.00 JPY.
• Hino Motors Ltd (7205: TYO) declined over 4 percent to 1,114.00 JPY.