The Japanese stock market is modestly lower on Wednesday, giving up some of the gains in the previous session, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling to be a tad above the 38,200 level, with weakness in index heavyweights and exporter stocks amid a stronger yen.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 81.21 or 0.21 percent at 38,207.41, after hitting a low of 38,141.49 earlier. Japanese stocks ended notably higher on Tuesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.4 percent and Toyota is adding more than 3 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 3 percent and Screen is edging up 0.4 percent, while Tokyo Electron is losing almost 2 percent.
In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.1 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging down 0.2 percent. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is flat.
Among the major exporters, Canon is losing more than 1 percent, Panasonic is down almost 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is edging down 0.2 percent, while Sony is gaining more than 1 percent.
Among other major losers, Sumitomo Chemical and Aozora Bank are declining more than 3 percent each, while Taiyo Yuden, Sumitomo Heavy Industries and Sumco are losing almost 3 percent each.
Conversely, Rakuten Group is soaring more than 9 percent and JTEKT is gaining more than 3 percent, while Daiichi Sankyo and Lasertec are adding almost 3 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 144 yen-range on Wednesday.
On the Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Tuesday, with the major averages bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line. Despite the choppy trading, the Dow crept up to a new record closing high.
The major averages all finished the day modestly higher. The Dow inched up 9.98 points or less than tenth of a percent to 41,250.50, the Nasdaq rose 29.05 points or 0.2 percent to 17,754.82 and the S&P 500 edged up 8.96 points or 0.2 percent to 5,625.80.
Meanwhile, the major European markets ended mixed on the day after seeing early strength. While the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.2 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.2 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 0.4 percent.
Crude oil prices fell on Tuesday after three successive days of strong gains, consolidating ahead of supply data due out later today. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for October slumped $1.89 or 2.5 percent at $75.53 a barrel.
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Market Analysis
April 24, 2026 15:15 ET Economics news flow was relatively light this week even as the conflict in the Middle East continued, raising concerns for policymakers. In the U.S., spending data, initial jobless claims and pending home sales were the highlights. Business confidence in the biggest euro area economy was in focus in Europe. Inflation data from Japan gained attention in Asia.