TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is advancing on Wednesday despite the mixed cues overnight from Wall Street, amid optimism about U.S.-China trade relations. News that China plans to cut auto tariffs on U.S. vehicles and that a Canadian court has granted bail to Chinese telecom giant Huawei's CFO Meng Wanzhou boosted sentiment.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is rising 349.22 points or 1.65 percent to 21,497.24, after rising to a high of 21,535.30 earlier. Japanese shares fell modestly on Tuesday to close near their lowest level since March.
The major exporters are notably higher on a weaker yen. Panasonic is gaining almost 4 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is higher by more than 3 percent, Sony is rising more than 2 percent and Canon is adding more than 1 percent.
In the tech sector, Advantest is advancing more than 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is higher by more than 1 percent.
Among the major automakers, Honda and Toyota are adding more than 2 percent each following news that China plans to cut auto tariffs on U.S.-made cars to 15 percent from the current 40 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding almost 1 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is up 0.5 percent.
In the oil space, Inpex is higher by almost 2 percent and Japan Petroleum is edging up 0.1 percent after crude oil prices rebounded overnight.
Among the other major gainers, Toto is gaining almost 6 percent, while Yamaha Corp. and Tokyo Electric Power are rising more than 5 percent each. Showa Denko is advancing almost 5 percent.
On the flip side, Konami Holdings is declining almost 2 percent, while Pioneer Corp. and East Japan Railway are lower by more than 1 percent each.
In economic news, the Cabinet Office said that core machine orders in Japan were up 7.6 percent on month in October, worth 863.2 billion yen. That was shy of expectations for an increase of 9.7 percent following the 18.3 percent plunge in September.
The Bank of Japan said that producer prices in Japan were down 0.3 percent on month in November. That missed expectations for a decline of 0.1 percent following the 0.4 percent increase in October.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid 113 yen-range on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed mixed on Tuesday in a volatile session as traders waffled between optimism and skepticism about a potential trade agreement between the U.S. and China. A testy public exchange between Trump and top Democratic leaders over funding for his proposed border wall may have also raised concerns about a partial government shutdown.
While the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 11.31 points or 0.2 percent to 7,031.83, the Dow dipped 53.02 points or 0.2 percent to 24,370.24 and the S&P 500 edged down 0.94 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 2,636.78.
The major European markets showed strong moves to the upside on Tuesday. While the German DAX Index surged up by 1.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.4 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.
Crude oil futures rebounded to close higher on Tuesday, aided by an unexpected supply cut from Libya. WTI crude rose $0.65 or 1.3 percent to close at $51.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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