Japanese Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading slightly higher on Wednesday after opening in the green and briefly slipping in to the red, reversing some of the losses in the previous three sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is staying above the 48,700 level, with gains in automakers and index heavyweights partially offset by weakness in financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 29.92 or 0.06 percent at 48,732.90, after hitting a low of 48,235.30 and a high of 48,943.81 earlier. Japanese stocks ended sharply lower on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 2 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 1 percent and Toyota is edging up 0.3 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 2 percent, Screen Holdings is down almost 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is declining almost 1 percent.

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

Among the major exporters, Canon and Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each, while Panasonic and Sony are edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each.

Among other major gainers, Furukawa Electric and Ryohin Keikaku are gaining more than 4 percent each, while Fujikura, NEC, Eisai and Obayashi are adding more than 3 percent each. Fuji Electric, Toho and T&D Holdings are advancing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Renesas Electronics is losing more than 4 percent, while Sumco and Ebara are declining more than 3 percent each.

In economic news, the value of core machinery orders in Japan was up a seasonally adjusted 4.2 percent on month in September, the Cabinet Office said on Wednesday - coming in at 927.8 billion yen. That beat expectations for an increase of 2.3 percent following the 0.9 percent decline in August.

On a yearly basis, core machinery orders jumped 11.6 percent - again topping forecasts for 5.4 percent and up from 1.6 percent in the previous month. For the third quarter of 2025, core machinery orders were down 2.1 percent on quarter and up 6.6 percent on year at 2.715 trillion yen.

For the fourth quarter, orders are predicted to be up 0.2 percent on quarter and 1.9 percent on year.

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

On the Wall Street, stock regained some ground after an early sell-off but still ended Tuesday's trading significantly lower. The major averages added to the notable losses posted during Monday's session, once again falling to their lowest closing levels in a month.

The major averages all finished the day firmly in negative territory. The Dow slumped 498.50 points or 1.1 percent to 46,091.74, the Nasdaq tumbled 275.23 points or 1.2 percent to 22,432.85 and the S&P 500 slid 55.09 points or 0.8 percent to 6,617.32.

The major European markets also showed significant moves to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index plunged by 1.9 percent, the German DAX Index tumbled by 1.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slumped by 1.3 percent.

Crude oil prices soared on Tuesday as the end of the U.S. government shutdown has accelerated expectations of brisk demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $0.90 or 1.49 percent at $60.80 per barrel.