TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is rising on Wednesday following the modest gains overnight on Wall Street and on a weaker yen after Japan's trade deficit for January came in wider than expected.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 186.29 points or 0.87 percent to 21,488.94, after rising to a high of 21,494.85 earlier. Japanese shares hit fresh two-month highs on Tuesday.
The major exporters are mostly higher on a weaker yen. Sony is advancing almost 2 percent, Panasonic is adding almost 1 percent and Canon is up 0.6 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is edging down 0.1 percent.
In the tech sector, Advantest is up 0.3 percent, while Tokyo Electron is lower by 0.2 percent.
Among the major automakers, Toyota is up almost 1 percent and Honda is rising more than 1 percent. In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding 0.5 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is up 0.1 percent.
In the oil space, Inpex is lower by 0.4 percent, while Japan Petroleum is rising 0.3 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Pacific Metals is rising more than 5 percent and Mitsui E&S is higher by more than 4 percent. Chiyoda Corp., Sumitomo Metal Mining and Yamaha Corp. are all higher by more than 3 percent each.
On the flip side, Fujitsu is losing more than 3 percent and Screen Holdings is declining 2 percent.
On the economic front, the Ministry of Finance said that Japan had a merchandise trade deficit of 1,452.2 billion yen in January. That missed expectations for a shortfall of 1,029.5 billion yen following the 56.7 billion yen deficit in December.
Exports were down 8.4 percent on year to 5.574 trillion yen, shy of forecasts for a fall of 5.7 percent after dropping 3.9 percent in the previous month. Imports eased an annual 0.6 percent to 6.989 trillion yen versus expectations for a decline of 3.5 percent after rising 1.9 percent a month earlier.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 110 yen-range on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed modestly higher on Tuesday in choppy trading amid uncertainty about the potential for a trade deal between the U.S. and China as the next round of trade talks get underway in Washington, D.C. this week. News that China accused the U.S. of attempting to curtail its technology development by putting pressure on allies to shun networks supplied by Huawei Technologies raised concerns about tensions between the world's two largest economies.
The Dow inched up 8.07 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 25,891.32, the Nasdaq rose 14.36 points or 0.2 percent to 7,486.77 and the S&P 500 edged up 4.16 points or 0.2 percent to 2,779.76.
The major European markets also ended mixed on Tuesday. The German DAX Index crept up by 0.1 percent, while the French CAC 40 Index slipped by 0.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.6 percent.
Crude oil futures moved higher Tuesday on optimism surrounding OPEC-led production cuts and the U.S. sanctions against exporters Iran and Venezuela. WTI crude rose $0.50 to settle at $56.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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