Oil Goes Down, Japan Stocks Rising

Crude futures fall Wednesday below $40 per barrel, investors could gather breath, and Japanese stocks rose Thursday?s midday because some banks and exporters recovered.
Japanese companies depend on imports for their oil needs. There are also concerns that rising oil prices could hurt consumer spending and curb global demand for Japanese exports.
But gains were limited as concerns about chances of higher interest rates in the United States restricted aggressive buying, analysts said.
The Nikkei 225 average ended the morning up 0.51 percent at 11,299.76, erasing the previous day's 0.48 percent fall. The Nikkei has been caught in a narrow range of between 11,100 and 11,358 this week.