Japanese Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading notably higher on Wednesday, extending the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving well above the 49,650 level, with strong gains in technology stocks partially offset by weakness in automakers and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 381.35 or 0.77 percent at 49,684.80, after touching a high of 49,781.80 earlier. Japanese stocks ended slightly higher on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 2 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.4 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.4 percent and Toyota is losing more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 5 percent, Screen Holdings is surging more than 6 percent and Tokyo Electron is advancing almost 4 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is declining more than 2 percent, Mizuho Financial is down more than 1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing almost 2 percent.

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 1 percent and Panasonic is advancing almost 3 percent, while Sony is down almost 1 percent. Canon is flat.

Among other major gainers, Nippon Electric Glass is soaring almost 8 percent, while Renesas Electronics, Mitsui Kinzoku and Ibiden are surging more than 5 percent each. Lasertec is jumping more than 4 percent, while Sumitomo Pharma and Ebara are gaining almost 4 percent each. Sumitomo Electric Industries, Credit Saison, Fuji Electric and Socionext are advancing more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, Nitori Holdings is declining more than 4 percent, while Aeon and Daiichi Sankyo are losing almost 4 percent each. Osaka Gas and Toppan Holdings are down almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, the services sector in Australia continued to expand in November, and at a slightly faster rate, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Wednesday with a services PMI core of 53.2. That's up from 53.1 in October and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also showed that the composite index climbed to 52.0 in November from 51.5 in October.

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

On the Wall Street, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Tuesday after an early move to the upside but largely maintained a positive bias. The major averages all ended the day in positive territory, regaining ground following the pullback seen during Monday's trading.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 137.75 points or 0.6 percent to 23,413.67, the Dow climbed 185.13 points or 0.4 percent to 47,474.46 and the S&P 500 rose 16.74 points or 0.3 percent to 6,829.37.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned mixed over the course of the session. While the German DAX Index climbed by 0.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed marginally lower and the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices gave ground on Tuesday as efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict have sent positive signals of a ceasefire sooner than expected. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down $0.55 or 0.93 percent at $58.77 per barrel.