The Japanese stock market is trading sharply higher on Wednesday, extending the sharp gains in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is surging more than 3 percent to above the 53,900 level, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights, technology and financial stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 1,673.31 or 3.20 percent at 53,925.59, after touching a high of 54,022.88 earlier. Japanese stocks ended sharply higher on Tuesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is jumping almost 8 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 1 percent and Toyota is adding more than 3 percent.
In the tech space, Screen Holdings is advancing almost 4 percent, while Advantest and Tokyo Electron are surging more than 5 percent each.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is advancing almost 4 percent, Mizuho Financial is surging almost 5 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining more than 3 percent.
Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 4 percent, Canon is up more than 1 percent, Panasonic is advancing more than 3 percent and Sony is adding almost 2 percent.
Among other major gainers, Furukawa Electric is jumping more than 10 percent, Tokio Marine is soaring almost 10 percent, Mitsui Kinzoku is surging more than 8 percent and Sumco is advancing almost 8 percent, while Fujikura and Sumitomo Electric Industries are rising more than 7 percent each. Ibiden, Ebara and Socionext are gaining more than 6 percent each, while Mitsubishi Materials and Lasertec are adding almost 6 percent each. Sompo Holdings and T&D Holdings are up more than 5 percent each.
Conversely, there are no other major losers.
In economic news, the Bank of Japan will on Wednesday release the minutes from its monetary policy meeting on Jan. 22-23. At the meeting, the BoJ retained its key interest rate at 0.75 percent, as expected, and raised its economic growth outlook - upgrading GDP growth for fiscal 2025 to 0.9 percent from 0.7 percent and fiscal 2026 was lifted to 1.0 percent from 0.7 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 158 yen-range on Wednesday.
On the Wall Street, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Tuesday following the recovery rally seen during the previous session. The major averages fluctuated over the course of the session before eventually closing in negative territory.
The Nasdaq slid 184.87 points or 0.8 percent to 21,761.89, the S&P 500 fell 24.63 points or 0.4 percent to 6,556.37 and the Dow dipped 84.41 points or 0.2 percent to 46,124.06. Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.7 percent.
Crude oil prices surged on Tuesday as market participants found U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of U.S.-Iran peace talks to be unfounded. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was up $3.90 or 4.43 percent at $92.03 per barrel.
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Market Analysis
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.