Japanese Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is slightly higher on Wednesday after opening in the red, extending the gains in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving above the 41,600 level, with gains in some index heavyweights and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 49.50 or 0.12 percent at 41,629.67, after touching a high of 41,740.96 earlier. Japanese stocks ended sharply higher on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is also adding almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.4 percent, while Toyota is edging up 0.5 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are edging down 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Screen Holdings is losing more than 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are gaining almost 2 percent each while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining more than 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Canon and Panasonic are edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while Sony is gaining more than 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is adding almost 1 percent.

Among other major gainers, Mitsubishi Motors is soaring almost 9 percent, Sapporo Holdings is surging almost 7 percent, MS&AD Insurance is gaining almost 5 percent and Tokio Marine is adding more than 4 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Trust, Suzuki Motor and Recruit Holdings are up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, GS Yuasa is losing more than 4 percent, while Lasertec and Ebara are declining almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid-161 yen-range on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Tuesday, with the major averages bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually ending the day narrowly mixed.

Despite the choppy trading, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 once again reached new record closing highs. While the Dow edged down 52.82 points or 0.1 percent to 39,291.97, the Nasdaq inched up 25.55 points or 0.1 percent to 18,429.29 and the S&P 500 crept up 4.13 points or 0.1 percent to 5,576.98.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 1.6 percent, the German DAX Index slumped by 1.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.7 percent.

Crude oil prices fell on Tuesday, extending losses to a third straight session, amid concerns about the outlook for demand, and on reports that Hurricane Beryl did not cause any big damage to refineries and ports along the Gulf coast. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down $0.92 or at $81.41 a barrel.