TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is trading notably higher on Wednesday, snapping a four-session losing streak, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving above the 57,000 mark, with gains in automakers, exporters and financial stocks as well as a mixed performance in index heavyweights and technology stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 445.72 or 0.79 percent at 57,012.21, after touching a high of 57,159.64 earlier. Japanese stocks ended modestly lower on Tuesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 3 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 1 percent and Toyota is also adding more than 1 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 1 percent and Screen Holdings is declining almost 2 percent, while Tokyo Electron is advancing more than 3 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining more than 3 percent, Mizuho Financial is adding more than 1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is advancing almost 3 percent.
Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is gaining more than 2 percent, Canon is up almost 1 percent and Panasonic is advancing more than 4 percent, while Sony is edging down 0.4 percent.
Among other major gainers, GS Yuasa is soaring more than 6 percent, TDK is surging almost 6 percent, Keisei Electric Railway is jumping more than 5 percent and Sojitz is gaining almost 5 percent, while Mitsui Kinzoku, Credit Saison, Toto and Fuji Electric are advancing more than 4 percent each. Toyota Tsusho, Tokio Marine Holdings, Dai-ichi Life Holdings, Taisei and IHI are adding almost 4 percent each.
Conversely, Sumitomo Pharma is declining almost 5 percent, while Shiseido and Dentsu Group are losing almost 4 percent each.
In economic news, Japan posted a seasonally adjusted merchandise trade deficit of 1.152 trillion yen in January, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday. That far surpassed expectations for a deficit of 2.142 trillion yen following the 113.5 billion yen surplus in December.
Exports jumped 16.8 percent on year to 9.187 trillion yen - beating forecasts for an increase of 12.0 percent following the 5.1 percent gain in the previous month. Imports slipped an annual 2.5 percent to 10.340 trillion yen versus expectations for a gain of 3.0 percent following the 5.2 percent increase a month earlier.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 153 yen-range on Wednesday.
On the Wall Street, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance over the course of the trading session on Tuesday after recovering from an early move to the downside. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing modestly higher.
The Dow inched up 32.26 points or 0.1 percent to 49,533.19, the Nasdaq edged up 31.71 points or 0.1 percent to 22,578.38 and the S&P 500 crept up 7.05 points or 0.1 percent to 6,843.22.
The major European markets have also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.5 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both advanced by 0.8 percent.
Crude oil prices showed another notable move to the downside on Tuesday amid reports indicating that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is leaning towards resuming oil output increases from April. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery slid $0.44 or 0.7 percent to $62.45 a barrel.
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