Japanese Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading significantly higher on Wednesday, extending the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving above the 49,300 level, with gains in across most sectors led by exporters and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 675.86 or 1.39 percent at 49,335.38, after touching a high of 49,339.60 earlier. Japanese stocks ended slightly higher on Tuesday.

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

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining more than 1 percent, Screen Holdings is adding almost 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.4 percent.

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

Among the major exporters, Canon is gaining more than 1 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is adding more than 2 percent, Panasonic is advancing more than 4 percent and Sony is up almost 3 percent.

Among other major gainers, Otsuka Holdings is surging more than 6 percent and Sumitomo Pharma is advancing almost 5 percent, while Sumitomo Pharma, Mitsui Kinzoku, Resonac Holdings and Tokyo Electric Power are gaining more than 4 percent each. Sumco, Toppan Holdings, Ryohin Keikaku, Tokyo Gas and Shimizu are adding almost 4 percent each. Kubota, Dai-ichi Life and Fuji Electric are advancing more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, Ibiden is tumbling more than 7 percent and BayCurrent is declining almost 3 percent.

In economic news, producer prices in Japan were up 2.7 percent on year in October, the Bank of Japan said on Wednesday. That was in line with expectations and down from 3.1 percent on September.

On a monthly basis, producer prices rose 0.6 percent - again matching forecasts and up from 0.1 percent in the previous month. Excluding international transportation, producer prices rose an annual 2.8 percent and 0.6 percent on year.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 156 yen-range on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved notably higher over the course of the trading day on Tuesday after showing a lack of direction early in the session. The major averages all moved to the upside, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq joining the Dow and the S&P 500 in positive territory after an initial pullback.

The major averages pulled back off their highs going into the end of the day but still posted strong gains. The Dow jumped 664.18 points or 1.4 percent to 47,112.45, the S&P 500 advanced 60.76 points or 0.9 percent to 6,765.88 and the Nasdaq climbed 153.59 points or 0.7 percent to 23,025.59.

The major European markets have also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 1.0 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.9 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.8 percent.

Crude oil prices slumped on Tuesday on reports that a revised Russia-Ukraine peace plan has been accepted by Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down $0.96 or 1.61 percent at $57.89 per barrel.