TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is notably higher on Wednesday, rebounding from sharp losses in the previous session on Christmas Day. Exporters' shares are advancing on a weaker yen.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is rising 306.44 points or 1.60 percent to 19,462.18, after touching a high of 19,530.35 earlier. Japanese shares fell over 5 percent to a 20-month low on Tuesday amid global economic fears and political uncertainty in the U.S.
The major exporters are mostly higher. Panasonic is gaining more than 2 percent, Mitsubishi Electric is advancing almost 2 percent and Sony is higher by more than 1 percent, while Canon is declining more than 1 percent.
In the tech sector, Advantest is lower by 0.2 percent and Tokyo Electron is gaining almost 3 percent.
Among the major automakers, Honda is advancing almost 2 percent and Toyota is adding more than 1 percent.
Nissan Motor's former representative Greg Kelly has been granted bail by a court in Tokyo, over more than a month after he was arrested along with ousted Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn on suspicion of understating Ghosn's income on several years of financial statements. Nissan's shares are rising more than 3 percent.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are higher by almost 1 percent each. In the oil space, Inpex is adding 0.4 percent and Japan Petroleum is up 0.7 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Olympus Corp. is rising 6 percent and Toho Co. is gaining more than 4 percent. Toto, Konami Holdings, Terumo Corp. and Maruha Nichiro are all higher by almost 4 percent each.
On the flip side, Nisshin Steel is losing almost 6 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid 110 yen-range on Wednesday.
Overnight, Wall Street and European markets were closed for the Christmas Day holiday.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
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