Japanese Market Sharply Higher At All-time Highs

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading sharply higher on Wednesday, reversing the losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving above the 65,900 level to fresh all-time highs, with gains in technology stocks partially offset by weakness in automakers and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 919.94 or 1.42 percent at 65,916.03, after touching a fresh all-time high of 66,428.81 earlier. Japanese stocks ended modestly lower on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is declining almost 4 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining almost 4 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.2 percent and Toyota is losing almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining more than 4 percent, Screen Holdings is jumping more than 7 percent and Tokyo Electron is surging almost 6 percent.

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

Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is gaining more than 1 percent and Panasonic is edging up 0.3 percent, while Sony is losing more than 2 percent. Canon is flat.

Among other major gainers, Shin-Etsu Chemical and Hoya are jumping more than 6 percent each, while Toto and Sumitomo Electric Industries are surging more than 5 percent each. SHIFT and NSK are advancing almost 5 percent each, while FUJIFILM Holdings is gaining more than 4 percent. JTEKT is adding almost 4 percent and Lasertec is rising more than 3 percent, while Sapporo Holdings and Kubota are up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Socionext is tumbling almost 6 percent, Astellas Pharma is sliding more than 5 percent, Sharp is slipping more than 4 percent and Sumitomo Realty & Development is losing almost 4 percent, while Kawasaki Heavy Industries, IHI, Japan Steel Works, Furukawa Electric, Tokyo Tatemono and Aozora Bank are all declining almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, producer prices in Japan were up 3.0 percent on year in April, the Bank of Japan said on Wednesday - beneath expectations for 3.3 percent, which would have been unchanged from the March reading. On a monthly basis, producer prices were up 0.5 percent - slowing from 1.3 percent in the previous month. Excluding international transportation, producer prices were up 2.5 percent on year and 0.5 percent on month.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 159 yen-range on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, the tech-heavy Nasdaq surged to a new record closing high on Tuesday, with technology stocks showing a substantial move to the upside. The S&P 500 also advanced to a new record closing high, while the narrower Dow showed a modest move to the downside.

The Nasdaq shot up 312.21 points or 1.2 percent to 26,656.18 and the S&P 500 climbed 45.65 points or 0.6 percent to 7,519.12, while the Dow dipped 118.02 points or 0.2 percent to 50,461.68. Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. The French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1 percent and the German DAX Index slid by 0.8 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the downtrend and rose by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Tuesday on optimism that a U.S.-Iran peace deal could soon lead to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was down $2.72 or 2.82 percent at $93.88 per barrel.