Japanese Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is modestly higher on Wednesday, extending the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving above the 41,300 level, with gains in exporters, automakers and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 52.31 or 0.13 percent at 41,327.39, after touching a high of 41,466.45 earlier. Japanese stocks ended modestly higher on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.2 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 1 percent and Toyota is edging up 0.4 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is edging down 0.5 percent and Tokyo Electron is losing more than 3 percent, while Screen Holdings is adding almost 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is gaining almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging up 0.1 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging down 0.4 percent.

Among the major exporters, Canon and Sony are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric are gaining almost 2 percent each.

Among other major gainers, Toho is soaring almost 9 percent, while Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Hitachi Zosen are surging almost 6 percent each. Hitachi Construction Machinery and Sumitomo Pharma are advancing more than 5 percent each, while Toray Industries, Komatsu and Sumitomo Heavy Industries are gaining more than 4 percent each. Taisei, Tokai Carbon and Sumitomo Chemical are adding almost 4 percent each, while Kubota is up more than 3 percent. JTEKT, Daiwa Securities and Nomura Holdings are advancing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Lasertec and Disco are losing almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 158 yen-range on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday, extending the upward move seen over the two previous sessions. The Dow led the charge, surging to a new record closing high.

The Dow jumped 742.76 points or 1.9 percent to 40,954.48, the S&P 500 climbed 35.98 points or 0.6 percent to a new record closing high of 5,667.20 and the Nasdaq rose 36.77 points or 0.2 percent to 18,509.34.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.7 percent, the German DAX Index fell by 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices fell on Tuesday, extending losses to a third straight session amid concerns about the outlook for demand and a slightly stronger dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August sank $1.15 or 1.4 percent at $80.76 a barrel.