Japanese Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading notably higher on Wednesday, adding to the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving above the 38,000 mark, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights, exporters and technology stocks. Automakers were the only weak spot.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 232.23 or 0.61 percent at 38,012.77, after touching a high of 38,151.39 earlier. Japanese stocks ended notably higher on Tuesday.

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

In the tech space, Advantest is edging up 0.3 percent, Screen Holdings is adding almost 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is gaining more than 2 percent.

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

Among the major exporters, Canon is edging up 0.2 percent, Sony is gaining 2.5 percent, Panasonic is adding almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is advancing almost 4 percent.

Among other major gainers, Nintendo is surging almost 6 percent, while Sumitomo Metal Mining and DeNA are gaining more than 3 percent each. Konami Group is adding almost 3 percent.

Conversely, NEXON is losing almost 5 percent and Mitsui Chemicals is declining almost 3 percent.

In economic news, Producer prices in Japan were flat on month in February, the Bank of Japan said on Wednesday - after slipping 0.5 percent in January. On a yearly basis, producer prices were up 3.0 percent, easing from an upwardly revised 3.2 percent in the previous month (originally 3.1 percent). Excluding international transportation, producer prices were up 0.1 percent on month and 3.1 percent on year.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 150 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 rally seen in the previous session. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing in positive territory for the third straight day.

The Nasdaq climbed 83.26 points or 0.5 percent to 18,271.86, the S&P 500 rose 9.08 points or 0.2 percent to 5,776.65 and the Dow inched up 4.18 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 42,587.50.

The major European markets also all moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both jumped by 1.1 percent.

Crude oil prices dipped on Tuesday on reports Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a partial ceasefire covering the Black Sea. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May closed lower by $0.11 at $69.00 a barrel.