(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market was trading higher on Wednesday for the seventh straight session, following a positive lead from Wall Street overnight on optimism about president-elect Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plans. Export-oriented stocks were advancing on the back of a weaker yen.

At 7.22 P.M. ET, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index was advancing 109.84 points, or 1.21%, to 9,190.68 and the broader Topix Index of all First Section issues was gaining 19.31 points to 895.51.

The Japanese market closed higher for the sixth straight session on Tuesday. The Nikkei 225 Index advanced 37.72 points, or 0.42%, to close at 9,080.84 and the Topix Index of all First Section Issues gained 0.29 points, or 0.03%, to settle at 876.20.

U.S stocks saw some volatility over the course of the session before ending Tuesday’s trading firmly in positive territory, although well off their highs. The choppy trading came as investors responded to a mixed bag of economic news and remarks by president-elect Barack Obama.

Oil slipped below $49 a barrel on Tuesday as weak U.S. economic data triggered a bout of profit-taking, outweighing concerns over supply-disruptions. Light, sweet crude for February delivery declined $0.23 to settle at $48.58 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The markets have little to digest in terms of economic news on Wednesday.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar was trading in the upper 93-yen range on Wednesday on hopes of an economic recovery due to stimulus measures planned under the incoming administration of President-elect Obama. In early trades, the dollar was quoted in a range of 93.92-93.94 yen, up 0.39 yen from Tuesday’s close of 93.53-93.54 yen in Tokyo.

Tech stocks advanced following the gains made overnight by their U.S. counterparts. Advantest jumped 5.30%, Kyocera rose 3.99% and Fanuc climbed 3.74%. Banking stocks were also trading mostly higher. Mitsubishi UFJ advanced 0.70%, Mizuho Financial added 0.69% and Resona Holdings improved 0.28%. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial gave away 0.24%.

Among export-oriented stocks, Canon jumped 5.72%, Komatsu gained 3.60%, Sharp climbed 4.89% and Sony rose 3.54%. Automaker Toyota advanced 1.31%, Mazda gained 4.94% and Nissan climbed 3.23%. Honda rose 4.72% despite a report in the Nikkei business daily that the company has decided to delay the launch of a passenger car plant in Argentina by six months or more from the originally scheduled second half of this year as demand drops in South America.

In the oil sector, Inpex Holdings advanced 1.56%, Nippon Oil added 0.92% and Showa Shell rose 2.07%. Trading house Mitsubishi gained 3.74%, Marubeni rose 4.30% and Itochu jumped 5.52%.

NEC Corp. said Tuesday it had latent securities losses totaling 87.6 billion yen for its fiscal third quarter through December. The company added that it was uncertain whether the loss would have any impact on its earnings for the three months. However, the company’s stock was advancing 3.32%.

Toshiba Corp. plans to triple its capacity to manufacture equipment for hydroelectric power plants in China by 2015. The company’s stock was up 2.20%.

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Posted in Categories: Japan, Releases, Stocks, USA.

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