It was a natural breather. But with (benchmark indexes) hovering in positive areas throughout the day, the market conditions remain solid.

Japanese shares seem set to push up to the 17,800 points level no matter what economic news comes out next week.

Everyone likes the story of a company coming back, and it was Sony, after all.

We are seeing the market consolidating now.

There’s no meaning in a market if traders cannot sell or buy when they want.

The market will likely remain volatile for now, until players find levels to settle down.

There had been expectations of solid corporate earnings before the earnings results season began, and indeed, they are proving to have been right.

Weakness in high-tech shares, which are the key contributor to the Nikkei, pushed down the market.

Like those players in the bond market, stock players may have begun to factor in rate hikes in the future.

It was a better scenario than expected for the stock market.

Trading volume shrinks to its lowest level at this time of the year, as the fiscal year draws to end. Along with that … there are no leads now.

Today’s market movement showed that with the dividend rights gone many investors were willing to sell heavily.