Japanese Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading slightly higher on Wednesday, snapping a four-session losing streak, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving up to be just below the 38,500 level, with gains in gains across most sectors led by financial stocks. Technology stocks were the only weak spot.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 17.28 or 0.04 percent at 38,491.58, after touching a high of 38,774.99 earlier. Japanese stocks ended sharply lower on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is flat. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 1 percent and Toyota is edging up 0.5 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing almost 3 percent, while Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining 1.5 percent, Mizuho Financial is advancing almost 3 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding more than 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Canon is losing almost 1 percent and Sony is down more than 1 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric and Panasonic are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each.

Among other major losers, Lasertec and Furukawa Electric are losing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Fanuc, Yaskawa Electric and Toho are gaining more than 5 percent each, while Keyence is adding almost 4 percent and Dai-ichi Life is advancing more than 3 percent.

In economic news, the M2 money stock in Japan was up 3.2 percent on year in December, the Bank of Japan said on Wednesday - coming in at 1,257.7 trillion yen. That exceeded expectations for 1.3 percent, which would have been unchanged from the previous three months.

The M3 money stock rose an annual 0.8 percent to 1,609.5 trillion yen, while M1 was up 1.3 percent to 1,096.5 trillion yen. The L money stock climbed 3.7 percent on year to 2,195.6 trillion yen following the 3.5 percent increase in the previous month.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 157 yen-range on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Tuesday after failing to sustain an early move to the upside. The major averages swung back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing narrowly mixed.

While the tech-heavy Nasdaq dipped 43.71 points or 0.2 percent to 19,044.39, the S&P 500 inched up 6.69 points or 0.1 percent to 5,842.91 and the Dow climbed 221.16 points or 0.5 percent to 42,518.28.

The major European markets also turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.2 percent and the German DAX Index climbed by 0.7 percent.

Crude oil prices came off five-month highs on Tuesday as investors shifted their focus on the possible impact of Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on imports. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February closed lower by $1.32 or about 1.67 percent at $77.50 a barrel.