The Japanese stock market is trading modestly higher on Wednesday after opening in the red, extending the gains in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving well above the 62,850 level, with gains in automakers, exporters and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in technology stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 137.50 or 0.22 percent at 62,880.07, after hitting a low of 62,318.87 earlier. Japanese stocks ended notably higher Tuesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is gaining almost 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining almost 1 percent and Toyota is advancing more than 2 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is declining more than 2 percent, while Tokyo Electron and Screen Holdings are losing almost 2 percent each.
In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.3 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are gaining almost 1 percent each.
Among the major exporters, Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 1 percent, Canon is adding more than 1 percent and Sony is surging more than 5 percent, while Panasonic is sliding more than 4 percent.
Among other major gainers, Olympus skyrocketing almost 15 percent and Secom is soaring more than 11 percent, while Furukawa Electric and Taiheiyo Cement are jumping almost 10 percent each. Kanadevia and NTN are surging almost 9 percent each, while Mercari is advancing more than 8 percent and Mitsubishi is gaining almost 7 percent. Minebea Mitsumi, Mazda Motor, Comsys Holdings and Sumitomo Electric Industries are adding almost 6 percent each. Mitsui & Co. and Asahi Kasei are up almost 5 percent each.
Conversely, Denka is tumbling more than 10 percent and NSK is sliding more than 8 percent, while Shionogi & Co. and OKUMA are slipping more than percent each. Sumco is tumbling almost 7 percent, Shimizu is losing more than 6 percent and Shiseido is down more than 5 percent, while Renesas Electronics, Tokyo Electric Power and Lasertec are declining more than 4 percent each. Socionex, Hitachi Construction Machinery and Hitachi are slipping more than 3 percent each, while SHIFT is down almost 3 percent.
In economic news, Japan posted a current account surplus of 4.681 trillion yen in March, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday. That beat expectations for a surplus of 3.879 trillion yen and was up from 3.933 trillion yen in February.
Imports were up 10.0 percent on year at 9.991 trillion yen and exports climbed an annual 11.7 percent to 10.822 trillion yen for a trade surplus of 830.5 billion yen. The capital account showed a deficit of 69.6 billion yen, while the financial account saw a surplus of 4.307 trillion yen.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 157 yen-range on Wednesday.
On the Wall Street, stocks regained ground over the course of the session after moving sharply lower in morning trading on Tuesday. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day, with the Dow reaching positive territory.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day down 185.92 points or 0.7 percent at 26,088.20 and the S&P 500 also slipped 11.88 points or 0.2 percent to 7,400.96, while the narrower Dow inched up 56.09 points or 0.1 percent to 49,760.56. Meanwhile, the major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just below the unchanged line, the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1 percent and the German DAX Index tumbled by 1.6 percent.
An extended surge by the price of crude oil contributed to the early sell-off on Wall Street, with U.S. crude oil futures soaring by more than 4 percent and jumping back above $100 a barrel.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Market Analysis
May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.