After some wild swings in early trades, the Japanese stock market moved higher on Wednesday with better-than-expected trade figures and bargain hunting after previous session's losses lifting stock prices by notable margins. However, with a section of investors staying wary of picking up stocks following a sharp setback suffered by the Chinese stocks on Tuesday, the market has drifted lower once again.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which rose to around 9,439 after an early fall to 9,366.3, is currently down 3.9 points or 0.04% at 9,398.
In the automobile space, Toyota Motor, Honda Motor and Nissan Motor are trading higher, while Suzuki Motor and Mitsubishi Motors are exhibiting weakness.
Among bank stocks, Chiba Bank, Sumitomo Trust and Banking and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are trading modestly higher, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Bank of Yokohama are trading weak.
Steel and non-ferrous metals stocks are trading mixed. Machinery and electric machinery stocks are also exhibiting a mixed trend.
Food and pharmaceuticals stocks are mostly up in positive territory. Shares of trading firms and retail houses are declining, while securities and insurance stocks are trading mixed.
In economic news, Japan's merchandise trade balance logged a 807.1 billion yen surplus in October, compared to a 75.2 billion yen deficit in the same month a year earlier, as exports fell at a milder pace than imports. Exports were down 23.2% on year, the 13th straight month of decline. The fall was smaller than the 30.7% drop in September. Imports fell for the 12th straight month, dropping 35.6%, compared with a 36.9% slide in September.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the upper 88 yen range early Wednesday in Tokyo after falling to a one-and-a-half-month low in the lower 88 yen zone overnight in New York. In early trades, the dollar fetched 88.61-88.62 yen against Tuesday's close of 88.45-88.55 yen in New York and 88.65-88.66 yen in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 88.34 to the U.S. dollar.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand and Taiwan are trading higher, while Shanghai and South Korea are exhibiting some weakness. Markets across the region had closed mostly lower on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed lower by slim margins on Tuesday amid some lackluster economic data. While the downward revision to the pace of GDP growth in the third quarter dragged down stock prices, better than expected data on consumer confidence prevented a pronounced fall.
The Dow and the S&P 500 briefly peeked above the unchanged line in the latter part of the trading day, but they still closed in the red. The Dow lower by 17.2 points or 0.2% at 10,433.7, the Nasdaq declined 6.8 points or 0.3% to 2,169.2 and the S&P 500 slipped by 0.6 points or 0.1% to 1,105.7.
Major European markets closed moderately lower on Tuesday. While U.K.'s FTSE 100 index and German DAX index both dropped down by 0.6%, the French CAC 40 index lost 0.8%.
Crude oil dropped sharply on Tuesday amid economic worries from both China and the U.S. Light sweet crude for January delivery settled at US$76.02, down US$1.54 on the session.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.