TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is trading modestly higher on Wednesday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving well above the 50,800 level, with gains in index heavyweights and automaker stocks. Most other sectors were mixed.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 178.66 or 0.35 percent at 50,833.76, after touching a high of 51,107.77 earlier. Japanese stocks ended slightly higher on Tuesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.4 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is also edging up 0.3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is surging almost 5 percent and Toyota is gaining almost 2 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is edging down 0.5 percent, while Screen Holdings is gaining almost 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.1 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging up 0.2 percent, while Mizuho Financial is edging down 0.3 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing almost 1 percent.
Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is gaining more than 1 percent and Panasonic is advancing almost 4 percent, while Sony is edging down 0.4 percent and Canon is losing more than 2 percent.
Among other major gainers, Dowa Holdings is jumping almost 7 percent, while Mitsubishi Materials and Kawasaki Heavy Industries are surging almost 5 percent each. Renesas Electronics, Kubota and SMC are gaining more than 4 percent each. Konica Minolta, Astellas Pharma, Mitsui Kinzoku, Dai Nippon Printing and JTEKT are advancing almost 4 percent each. Denso and NTN are adding more than 3 percent each.
Conversely, Shionogi $ Co. is losing almost 4 percent.
In economic news, producer prices in Japan were up 0.3 percent on month in November, the Bank of Japan said on Monday. That was in line with expectations and down from the upwardly revised 0.5 percent in October (originally 0.4 percent). On a yearly basis, producer prices were up 2.7 percent - matching expectations and unchanged from the previous month.
Export prices were up 1.1 percent on month and 1.2 percent on year, the bank said, while import prices rose 0.7 percent on month but sank 2.7 percent on year.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 156 yen-range on Wednesday.
On the Wall Street, stocks turned in a lackluster performance during Tuesday's session following the modest pullback seen during trading on Monday. The major averages fluctuated over the course of the session before closing narrowly mixed.
While the tech-heavy Nasdaq inched up 30.58 points or 0.1 percent to 23,576,49, the S&P 500 edged down 6.00 points or 0.1 percent to 6,840.51 and the Dow fell 179.03 points or 0.4 percent to 47,560.29.
The major European markets also turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index climbed by 0.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just below the unchanged line and the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.7 percent.
Crude oil prices slumped on Tuesday as Iraq resumed crude flow from Lukoil's West Qurna oil fields while the U.S. dollar gained ground after job data from the U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down $0.66 or 1.12 percent at $58.22 per barrel.
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