Japanese Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is sharply higher on Wednesday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 moved well above the 34,400 level to 34-year highs, with gains across most sectors, led by exporters and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 616.76 or 1.83 percent at 34,379.94, after touching a 34-year high of 34,402.45 earlier. Japanese stocks ended significantly higher on Tuesday.

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

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

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Sony is gaining more than 2 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is advancing almost 2 percent, Canon is adding more than 1 percent and Panasonic is up almost 1 percent.

Among other major gainers, Olympus is surging almost 6 percent, while Kyocera and Daiichi Sankyo are advancing more than 5 percent each. Trend Micro is gaining more than 4 percent, while TDK, Nintendo, Keisei Electric Railway, Nissan Chemical and M3 are adding almost 4 percent each. Terumo, Fanuc, Eisai, Denso, JTEKT and Toyota Tsusho are all up more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 144 yen-range on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks moved mostly lower in early trading on Tuesday but regained ground over the course of the session. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq peeking above the unchanged line.

The major averages finished the day mixed. While the Nasdaq inched up 13.94 points or 0.1 percent to 14,857.71, the S&P 500 edged down 7.04 points or 0.2 percent to 4,756.50 and the Dow fell 157.85 points or 0.4 percent to 37,525.16.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved modestly lower on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index slipped by 0.2 percent and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday as rising geopolitical risks raised concerns about possible supply and trade disruptions. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled higher by $1.47 at $72.24 a barrel.