Japanese Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is significantly higher on Wednesday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 32,500 level, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, with gains in financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 300.63 or 0.93 percent at 32,527.60, after touching a high of 32,527.75 earlier. Japanese stocks ended slightly higher on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is also edging up 0.4 percent. Among automakers, Honda and Toyota are gaining almost 1 percent each.

In the tech space, Screen Holdings is edging down 0.2 percent, while Tokyo Electron is gaining 1.5 percent and Advantest is adding almost 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is advancing almost 2 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining more than 1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding almost 1 percent.

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

Among the other major gainers, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Sharp, Kyocera and Kawasaki Heavy Industries are gaining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 146 yen-range on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher during trading on Tuesday, extending the upward move seen over the two previous sessions. The major averages all moved to the upside, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq posting a standout gain.

The major averages finished the session just off their best levels of the day. The Nasdaq surged 238.63 points or 1.7 percent to 13,943.76, the S&P 500 jumped 64.32 points or 1.5 percent to 4,497.63 and the Dow advanced 292.69 points or 0.9 percent to 34,852.67.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index surged by 1.7 percent, the German DAX Index advanced by 0.9 percent and the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.7 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday with traders weighing the likely impact of the Hurricane Idalia on energy operations in the Gulf of Mexico, while a weak dollar also contributed to the uptick. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October climbed $1.06 or 1.3 percent at $81.16 a barrel.