Japanese Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading slightly higher on Wednesday, recouping some of the losses in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling to stay above the 38,400 level, with traders remaining cautious ahead of the general election this weekend.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 17.94 or 0.05 percent at 38,429.90, after touching a high of 38,514.33 earlier. Japanese stocks ended sharply lower on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.5 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 3 percent and Toyota is advancing almost 4 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Screen Holdings are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is losing almost 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are losing almost 1 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is edging down 0.5 percent.

Among the major exporters, Panasonic and Canon are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is gaining more than 1 percent. Sony is edging down 0.2 percent.

Among other major gainers, Konica Minolta is skyrocketing more than 11 percent, Tokyo Tatemono is surging more than 7 percent, Asahi Group is gaining almost 4 percent, Subaru is adding more than 3 percent and Denso is up almost 3 percent.

Conversely, Recruit Holdings is losing almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 151 yen-range on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks regained ground over the course of the trading day on Tuesday after coming under pressure early in the session. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day before ending the day little changed.

The major averages moved to the downside going into the close, finishing narrowly mixed. While the Nasdaq rose 33.12 points or 0.2 percent to 18,573.13, the Dow edged down 6.71 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 42,924.89 and the S&P 500 slipped 2.78 points or 0.1 percent to 5,851.20.

Meanwhile, the major European markets saw modest weakness on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index closed just below the unchanged line, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Tuesday amid hopes that China's latest stimulus move will push up demand, although the upside was limited by a possible a ceasefire deal in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for November added $1.53 or 2.1 percent at $72.09 a barrel.