The Japanese stock market is advancing on Wednesday, extending gains from the previous session following the positive cues overnight from Wall Street. A weaker yen and upbeat earnings results from Japanese companies also lifted investor sentiment.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is rising 74.64 points or 0.37 percent to 20,060.43, off a high of 20,103.19 earlier.
Tech giant Apple's Japanese suppliers Taiyo Yuden and Murata Manufacturing are both gaining more than 4 percent each, while Alps Electric is rising 3 percent after Apple reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings results overnight.
Among the major exporters, Canon is rising 0.2 percent and Panasonic is adding 0.1 percent, while Sony is losing almost 2 percent despite reporting a surge in first-quarter profit. Toshiba has been relegated to the Tokyo Stock Exchange's second section.
Among automakers, Toyota is adding 0.4 percent. Honda is rising almost 4 percent after the automaker reported upbeat earnings results for the first quarter and raised its full-year outlook.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding 0.4 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is up 0.2 percent.
In the oil space, Inpex is losing almost 1 percent and Japan Petroleum is down 0.6 percent after crude oil prices fell overnight.
Among the other major gainers, JFE Holdings is gaining more than 6 percent and Yaskawa Electric is rising almost 4 percent.
On the flip side, Nichirei Corp. is losing more than 4 percent, Teijin is down 4 percent and Sumitomo Electric Industries is declining more than 3 percent.
On the economic front, the Bank of Japan said that the monetary base in Japan was up 15.6 percent on year in July, coming in at 465.069 trillion yen. That followed the 17.0 percent spike in June.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the mid 110 yen-range on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed higher on Tuesday as traders continued to react to the latest batch of earnings news, with most corporate results exceeding economist estimates. Trading activity was somewhat subdued, however, with traders reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the monthly jobs report on Friday.
The Dow climbed 72.80 points or 0.3 percent to 21,963.92, the Nasdaq edged up by 14.81 points or 0.2 percent to 6,362.94 and the S&P 500 rose 6.05 points or 0.2 percent to 2,476.35.
The major European markets also moved to the upside on Tuesday. While the German DAX Index jumped by 1.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 and the French CAC 40 Index both climbed by 0.7 percent.
Crude oil futures fell Tuesday, unable to hold the $50 a barrel mark after a report said OPEC produce rose in June despite the cartel's supply quota plan. WTI September oil futures ended lower by $1, or 2 percent, at $49.16 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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Market Analysis
May 22, 2026 14:46 ET Minutes of the latest Fed policy session was the highlight of the week along with survey data on the U.S. housing market. In Europe, survey data signaled the trends in the euro area private sector. Further, consumer price inflation data from the U.K. was in focus. In Asia, various economic indicators from China drew attention to the health of the economy.