Japanese Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading sharply higher on Wednesday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving a tad above the 39,600 level, with gains in index heavyweights, exporters and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 572.32 or 1.47 percent at 39,600.30, after touching a high of 39,612.00 earlier. Japanese stocks ended modestly higher on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is surging 8.5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.4 percent and Toyota is gaining almost 2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is advancing more than 4 percent, Screen Holdings is adding more than 3 percent and Tokyo Electron is gaining 1.5 percent.

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

Among the major exporters, Canon is edging up 0.3 percent, Sony is gaining more than 1 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is adding more than 2 percent and Panasonic is up almost 1 percent.

Among other major gainers, Furukawa Electric is spiking more than 9 percent, Fujikura is soaring more than 7 percent and Disco is surging almost 7 percent and Sumitomo Electric is gaining more than 4 percent, while Fuji Electric, Eisai and Renesas Electronics are adding almost 4 percent each. Japan Steel Works is advancing more than 3 percent, while Japan Steel Works, Hitachi and Rakuten Group are up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid-155 yen-range on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks largely kept moving higher on Tuesday after a positive start, and the major averages all ended the day's session on a firm note. A drop in bond yields and optimism about a few interest-rate cuts this year contributed to the positive sentiment in the market.

The Dow closed up 537.98 points or 1.24 percent, at 44,025.81. The S&P 500 ended higher by 52.58 points or 0.88 percent, at 6,049.24, while the Nasdaq settled at 19,756.78, gaining 126.58 points or 0.64 percent.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.33 percent, Germany's DAX closed up 0.25 percent and France's CAC 40 ended up 0.48 percent higher.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Tuesday, weighed down by Trump's plans to boost oil and gas production in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February closed down $1.99 or 2.56 percent at $75.89 a barrel.