TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is trading notably higher on Wednesday, extending the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving up to near the 68,100 level, with gains in automakers, financial and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in index heavyweights.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 351.08 or 0.52 percent at 68,094.58, after touching a high of 68,765.73 earlier. Japanese stocks ended notably higher on Tuesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.2 percent and Toyota is gaining almost 1 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is adding more than 3 percent, Tokyo Electron is gaining almost 2 percent and Screen Holdings is up almost 1 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining more than 2 percent, while Mizuho Financial is edging down 0.3 percent.
Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric, Canon and Panasonic are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Sony is losing more than 1 percent.
Among other major gainers, Lasertec is jumping more than 8 percent, Kioxia Holdings is surging more than 5 percent and Ibiden is advancing more than 4 percent, while Nomura Holdings and Taiyo Yuden are advancing almost 4 percent each. Ebara, Marubeni, Credit Saison and Taisei are gaining more than 3 percent each, while Resonac Holdings, Daiwa Securities, Shimizu and Mitsubishi Materials are adding almost 3 percent each.
Conversely, NEC is declining more than 4 percent, while BayCurrent, SHIFT, Nomura Research Institute and Fujitsu are declining almost 4 percent each. Oriental Land and Ryohin Keikaku are losing more than 3 percent each, while Nitori Holdings and Murata Manufacturing are slipping almost 3 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 161 yen-range on Wednesday.
On the Wall Street, stocks moved back to the upside during trading on Tuesday following the weakness seen in the previous session. The major averages all finished the day in positive territory, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq posting a standout gain.
The Nasdaq ended the day off its highs of the session but still closed up 233.83 points or 0.9 percent at 26,107.01. The S&P 500 also climbed 28.25 points or 0.4 percent to 7,543.59, while the narrower posted a more modest gain, inching up 9.63 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 52,508.27.
The major European markets also turned positive over the course of the session after seeing early weakness. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 percent, the German DAX Index crept up by 0.1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index closed just above the unchanged line.
Crude oil prices moved higher again on Tuesday amid concerns about the escalating conflict between the U.S. and Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was up $0.94 or 1.2 percent to $79.08 a barrel.
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