Japanese Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading sharply higher on Wednesday, reversing the losses in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving well above the 34,800 level, with gains across all sectors led by index heavyweights and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 611.61 or 1.79 percent at 34,832.21, after touching a high of 35,142.12 earlier. Japanese stocks ended modestly lower on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is adding almost 2 percent and Toyota is gaining almost 4 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Screen Holdings is edging down 0.5 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is declining more than 4 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are adding more than 3 percent each.

Among the major exporters, Canon, Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric are gaining almost 3 percent each, while Sony is adding more than 3 percent.

Among other major gainers, FUJIFILM is soaring almost 12 percent, Konica Minolta is surging almost 10 percent and Shiseido is advancing more than 5 percent, while Dai-ichi Life and Taiyo Yuden are gaining almost 5 percent each. Fujikura, T&D Holdings, Hino Motors, Tokyo Electric Power, Nidec, Furukawa Electric, Subaru, Yaskawa Electric and TDK are all adding more than 4 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 142 yen-range on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading day on Tuesday, regaining ground following the sell-off seen in the previous session. The major averages all showed significant moves to the upside, with the Dow and the Nasdaq closing higher for the first time in five days.

The major averages surged in morning trading and remained firmly positive throughout the afternoon. The Dow soared 1,016.57 points or 2.7 percent to 39,186.98, the Nasdaq spiked 429.52 points or 2.7 percent to 16,300.41 and the S&P 500 shot up 129.56 points or 2.5 percent to 5,287.76.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index increased by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both climbed by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices moved sharply higher on Tuesday after the Treasury Department announced new sanctions against Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery surged $1.23 or 2.0 percent to $64.31 a barrel.