TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is slightly higher on Wednesday after opening well in the red, extending the gains in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving well above the 40,550 level, with gains in automakers, exporters and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in technology stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 30.21 or 0.07 percent at 40,579.75, after touching a high of 40,644.55 and a low of 40,423.13 earlier. Japanese stocks ended notably higher on Tuesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.4 percent. Among automakers, Honda is adding almost 2 percent and Toyota is gaining more than 2 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is declining more than 2 percent, Tokyo Electron is losing almost 4 percent and Screen Holdings is slipping almost 3 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are adding almost 1 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is gaining more than 1 percent.
Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 3 percent, Panasonic is adding more than 2 percent and Sony is gaining 1.5 percent, while Canon is edging down 0.2 percent.
Among other major gainers, Kubota is soaring more than 6 percent and Mitsui Fudosan is surging more than 5 percent, while BANDAI NAMCO, Daikin Industries and Yokogawa Electric are gaining almost 4 percent each. Yamaha Motor, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Yamato Holdings are adding more than 3 percent each, while Sharp, Toyota Tsusho, Secom, Japan Steel Works, East Japan Railway and GS Yuasa are advancing almost 3 percent each.
Conversely, Nichirei is plummeting more than 9 percent, OKUMA is plunging almost 9 percent, Kanadevia is tumbling almost 6 percent and Renesas Electronics is sliding almost 5 percent, while Mercari, Kikkoman and Recruit Holdings are declining almost 4 percent each. Disco, M3 and Lasertec are losing almost 3 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 147 yen-range on Wednesday.
On the Wall Street, stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the session on Tuesday after initially extending yesterday's rally in early trading. The major averages all moved to the downside, partly offsetting Monday's strong gains.
The major averages all finished the day in negative territory. The Nasdaq slid 137.03 points or 0.7 percent to 20,916.55, the S&P 500 fell 30.75 points or 0.5 percent to 6,299.19 and the Dow edged down 61.90 points or 0.1 percent to 44,111.74.
Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index crept up by 0.2 percent and the German DAX Index rose by 0.4 percent.
Crude oil prices fell on Tuesday amid US pressure on India to stop buying oil from Russia, as well as OPEC's recent decision to boost production. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery slumped $1.05 or 1.58 percent to $65.24 per barrel.
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