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 is moving to near the 39,700 level, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 500.91 or 1.28 percent at 39,674.06, after touching a high of 39,682.26 earlier. Japanese stocks ended significantly higher on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining 1.5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.1 percent and Toyota is losing almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is surging 6.5 percent, Tokyo Electron is gaining 2.5 percent and Screen Holdings is adding more than 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding more than 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Canon and Mitsubishi Electric are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Sony is gaining more than 1 percent. Panasonic is edging down 0.4 percent.

Among other major gainers, Sumitomo Pharma is surging almost 6 percent, Taisei is adding almost 4 percent and Isetan Mitsukoshi is adding more than 3 percent, while Konami Group, OKUMA and Obayashi are advancing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major gainers.

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

On the Wall Street, stocks closed mixed on Tuesday after a cautious session, as investors looked ahead to the release of some crucial U.S. data, including a report on consumer income and spending, for more clarity about the outlook for Federal Reserve's interest rates.

Among the major averages, the Dow settled with a loss of 299.05 points or 0.76 percent, at 39,112.16. The Nasdaq climbed up 220.84 points or 1.26 percent, to 17,717.65, while the S&P 500 ended up by 21.43 points or 0.39 percent, at 5,469.30.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended lower by 0.41 percent, Germany's DAX lost 0.81 percent and France's CAC 40 drifted down 0.58 percent.

Crude oil prices fell on Tuesday as traders booked some profits ahead of crucial U.S. inflation data due later in the week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down by $0.80 or nearly 1 percent at $80.83 a barrel.