Japanese Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is notably higher on Wednesday, adding to the strong gains in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving well above the 36,300 level, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 137.04 or 0.38 percent at 36,369.55, after touching a high of 36,683.89 earlier. Japanese stocks ended sharply higher on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining almost 4 percent and Toyota is also adding almost 4 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 2 percent and Screen Holdings is adding more than 2 percent, while Tokyo Electron is edging down 0.5 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is gaining more than 3 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding more than 2 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is advancing more than 4 percent.

Among the major exporters, Canon, Sony and Mitsubishi Electric are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Panasonic is adding more than 3 percent.

Among other major gainers, Sapporo Holdings is skyrocketing almost 14 percent, while Isetan Mitsukoshi, Tokio Marine, Socionext and Konica Minolta are surging more than 5 percent each. Sharp and Dai-ichi Life are gaining almost 5 percent each, while Fujikura and Chiba Bank are adding more than 4 percent each. Tokyo Electric Power, Sompo Holdings, MS&AD Insurance, Japan Post and T&D Holdings are advancing almost 4 percent each.

Conversely, Mercari plummeting more than 8 percent and Citizen Watch is plunging more than 5 percent.

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

On the Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading day on Tuesday following the lackluster performance seen in the previous session. The major averages all showed strong moves to the upside after ending Monday's trading narrowly mixed.

The major averages saw continued strength going into the close, ending the day near their highs of the session. The Nasdaq soared 407.00 points or 2.4 percent to 17,187.61, the S&P 500 surged 90.04 points or 1.7 percent to 5,434.43 and the Dow jumped 408.63 points or 1.0 percent to 39,765.64.

The major European markets also moved to the upside over the course of the session. While the German DAX Index advanced by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index increased by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Tuesday as concerns about the outlook for global demand outweighed geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and likely disruptions in supply. West Teas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended down $1.71 or about 2.1% at $78.35 a barrel, snapping a five-day winning streak.