Asian Markets Trade Mostly Higher

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Wednesday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, boosted by Japan's Nikkei surging more than 3 percent after U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of a "massive" trade deal with Japan eased concerns about the tariff war. Sentiment improved following global trade developments as markets await potential trade deals between the US and its partners ahead of the August 1 deadline. Asian markets closed mixed on Tuesday.

US President Donald Trump has threatened nations with an enormous 35% tariff on its imports to the US if a deal is not reached by August 1, with countries forcing themselves to arrive at a "good deal."

Trump has threatened to hit most of the EU bloc's exports with 30% tariffs, leaders are focused to avert the enormous levies. Reports suggest that the bloc is planning to retaliate if the ongoing talks fail.

Australian shares are trading notably higher on Wednesday, extending the slight gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 8,700 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains across most sectors led by mining and energy stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 48.90 points or 0.56 percent to 8,726.10, after touching a high of 8,731.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 47.40 points or 0.53 percent to 8,988.90. Australian stocks ended slightly higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining more than 1 percent, Fortescue is adding more than 2 percent, Rio Tinto is advancing almost 2 percent and Mineral Resources is rising more than 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy is edging up 0.1 percent, Woodside Energy is gaining almost 2 percent and Beach energy is adding almost 3 percent, while Santos is edging down 0.3 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 2 percent, Zip is adding almost 1 percent and Appen is edging up 0.4 percent, while WiseTech Global is edging down 0.4 percent and Xero are losing more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Westpac is gaining more than 1 percent. National Australia bank is edging down 0.2 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is advancing more than 3 percent, Resolute Mining is rising almost 2 percent, Northern Star Resources is gaining almost 3 percent, Newmont is adding more than 2 percent and Gold Road Resources is up more than 1 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.656 on Wednesday.

The Japanese stock market is sharply higher on Wednesday, reversing the losses in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is surging more than 3 percent to above the 41,000 mark, with gains across all sectors led by exporters, automakers and financial stocks.

Traders react positively to U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of a "massive" trade deal with Japan that eased concerns about the tariff war.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 41,053.44, up 1,278.52 points or 3.21 percent, after touching a high of 41,070.91 earlier. Japanese stocks ended slightly lower on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is surging almost 5 percent. Among automakers, Honda is surging almost 9 percent and Toyota is skyrocketing almost 12 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is edging down 0.2 percent, while Tokyo Electron and Screen Holdings are adding almost 1 percent each.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are advancing more than 4 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining almost 4 percent.

Among the major exporters, Canon and Sony are gaining more than 4 percent each, while Panasonic is surging almost 6 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is adding more than 1 percent.

Among other major gainers, Mazda Motor is skyrocketing almost 18 percent, while Subaru and Mitsubishi Motors are soaring more than 14 percent each. Nissan Motor and Yamaha Motor are surging more than 8 percent each, while Denso, Yaskawa Electric, Fanuc and Kubota are advancing more than 8 percent each. NTN, TDK, SMC and Minebea Mitsumi are rising almost 8 percent each.

Conversely, Toho is losing almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 146 yen-range on Wednesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia are higher by between 0.2 and 0.9 percent each, while New Zealand and South Korea are down 0.9 and 0.3 percent, respectively.

On the Wall Street, stocks regained ground over the course of the trading day on Tuesday after coming under pressure early in the session. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day before eventually ending the session narrowly mixed.

While the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 81.49 points or 0.4 percent to 20,892.69, the S&P 500 inched up 4.02 points or 0.1 percent to 6,309.62 and the Dow climbed 179.37 points or 0.4 percent to 44,502.44.

The major European markets also ended the day mixed. The German DAX Index slumped by 1.1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.7 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the downtrend and inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices moved lower for a third straight session on Tuesday as continuing uncertainty on tariff negotiations between the U.S. and its trading partners has increased demand concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude closed down by $0.99 to settle at $66.21 per barrel.