TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is slightly lower in choppy trading on Wednesday after opening in the green, reversing some of the gains in the previous session, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is staying below the 38,800 level, with weakness in index heavyweights, automakers and financial stocks partially offset by gains in technology stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 10.55 or 0.03 percent at 38,780.01, after touching a high of 38,925.91 earlier. Japanese stocks ended significantly higher on Tuesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda and Toyota are losing almost 1 percent each.
In the tech space, Advantest is gaining 2.5 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding almost 4 percent and Screen Holdings is advancing more than 2 percent.
In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is declining almost 2 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are losing more than 1 percent each.
Among the major exporters, Canon and Panasonic are edging down 0.1 percent each, while Sony is losing almost 1 percent. Mitsubishi Electric is gaining more than 2 percent.
Among other major losers, Olympus is plunging almost 10 percent and Sapporo Holdings is losing almost 3 percent.
Conversely, Ebara is surging almost 5 percent, Mitsui Chemicals is gaining more than 4 percent and Taiyo Yuden is advancing more than 3 percent, while Yokohama Rubber, Nikon, Alps Alpine and Sumco are adding almost 3 percent each.
In economic news, producer prices in Japan were up 3.3 percent on year in May, the Bank of Japan said on Tuesday. That beat forecasts for an increase of 3.1 percent and was down from 3.4 percent in April. On a monthly basis, producer prices dipped 0.1 percent after rising 0.7 percent in the previous month. Excluding international transportation, producer prices were flat on month and up 3.5 percent on year.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 144 yen-range on Wednesday.
On the Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher during trading on Tuesday, extending the strong upward move seen over the course of the previous session. With the continued advanced, the major averages reached their best closing levels in four months.
The major averages pulled back off their best levels going into the close but remained firmly positive. The Nasdaq surged 281.56 points or 1.4 percent to 19,912.53, the Dow jumped 507.24 points or 1.2 percent to 43,089.02 and the S&P 500 shot up 67.01 points or 1.1 percent to 6,092.18.
The major European markets all also moved to the upside on the day. Germany's DAX Index jumped by 1.6 percent and France's CAC 40 Index advanced by 1.0 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed only slightly above the unchanged line.
Crude oil prices tumbled on Tuesday as the Israel-Iran conflict cooled down after an announcement by the US President of a ceasefire between the warring nations. West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed down by $4.14 to settle at $64.37 per barrel.
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