Japanese Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is sharply higher on Wednesday, recouping some of the losses in the previous three sessions, following the mixed cues from global markets overnight. The Nikkei 225 moved above the 33,300 level, with gains across most sectors, led by index heavyweights, exporters and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 529.41 or 1.62 percent at 33,305.23, after touching a high of 33,319.87 earlier. Japanese stocks ended sharply lower on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding almost 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 1 percent and Toyota is advancing more than 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining 1.5 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding almost 2 percent and Screen Holdings is advancing almost 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are edging down 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging up 0.2 percent.

Among the major exporters, Sony is advancing almost 3 percent, while Canon and Mitsubishi Electric are adding almost 1 percent each. Panasonic is flat.

Among other major gainers, Toppan Holdings is soaring almost 8 percent, Tokyo Electric Power is surging more than 5 percent, Lasertec is advancing almost 5 percent and Nitori Holdings is gaining more than 4 percent, while Daiwa Securities, Credit Saison and Fujitsu are adding more than 3 percent each. Omron, NEC, Yokohama Rubber, Sompo Holdings, Mitsui Fudosan, Chugai Pharmaceutical and Hoya are all up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 147 yen-range on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Tuesday. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before closing narrowly mixed.

While the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 44.42 points or 0.3 percent to 14,229.91, the S&P 500 edged down 2.60 points or 0.1 percent to 4,567.18 and the Dow dipped 79.88 points or 0.2 percent to 36,124.56.

The major European markets also turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index advanced by 0.7 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices dropped on Tuesday for a fourth straight session, on lingering concerns about the outlook for demand and on disappointment over the small size of additional output cuts announced by OPEC. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended down $0.72 or 1 percent at $72.32 a barrel.