Japanese Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is modestly higher in choppy trading on Wednesday after opening in the red, extending the gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 31,900 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders reacted to upbeat PMI data that showed domestic manufacturing and services activity improved in August to three-month highs.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 77.43 or 0.24 percent at 31,934.14, after touching a high of 31,950.93 and a low of 31,717.91 earlier. Japanese stocks ended significantly higher on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining almost 1 percent, while Toyota is losing almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron are losing almost 1 percent each, while Advantest is declining more than 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging down 0.1 to 0.5 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.4 percent.

Among the major exporters, Canon and Sony are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 2 percent and Panasonic is adding more than 2 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Kansai Electric Power is gaining more than 4 percent and Kikkoman is adding almost 4 percent, while Daikin Industries, Mazda Motor and Sumitomo Osaka Cement are up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to contract in August, albeit at a slower rate, the latest survey from Jibun Bank revealed on Wednesday with a manufacturing PMI score of 49.7. That's up from 49.6 in July, although it remains beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also showed that the services PMI rose to 54.3 from 53.8 and the composite PMI improved to 52.6 from 52.2.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 145 yen-range on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Tuesday following the rebound seen over the course of Monday's session. The major averages spent most of the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually ended the day mixed. While the Nasdaq inched up 8.28 points or 0.1 percent to 13,505.87, the S&P 500 fell 12.22 points or 0.3 percent to 4,387.55 and the Dow slid 174.86 points or 0.5 percent to 34,288.83.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged up by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index climbed by 0.6 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

Crude oil futures eased on Tuesday, extending losses from the previous session amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September slipped $0.37 or 0.5 percent at $80.35 a barrel.