The Japanese stock market exhibited a strong performance on Wednesday, following encouraging cues from global markets. This augments the gains witnessed over the past two sessions. Leading the gains were the Nikkei 225, which soared past the 38,300 point, driven by heavyweight and technology stocks. By the day's end, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index had risen by 786.40 units or 2.09 percent to settle at 38,338.56.
Prominent contributors to this increase include market giant SoftBank Group, which climbed by more than 3 percent, alongside the Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing that saw a near 2 percent rise. In the automobile sector, Honda and Toyota both saw more than a 1 percent increase, shifting over 2 percent respectively.
Major exporters like Sony, Mitsubishi Electric, and Panasonic also saw their shares rise by nearly 3 percent, over 2 percent, and over 1 percent respectively, while Canon experienced a slight decline of nearly 1 percent.
Decisive gains were also recorded in other sectors. For instance, Nikon stocks skyrocketed by 10.5 percent and Renesas Electronics rose by over 9 percent. LY saw improvement of more than 4 percent. Four companies, namely Yaskawa Electric, Minebea Mitsumi, Sekisui House, and NTT Data, witnessed a growth of nearly 4 percent each while Ebara, Rakuten Group, Shin-Etsu Chemical, Mercari and Hitachi enjoyed more than a 3 percent increase each.
However not all companies shared in this upturn. Resonac Holdings took a hit of more than 7 percent, while Nidec and Sumitomo Metal Mining declined by more than 4 percent and nearly 3 percent respectively.
In economic news, Japan's producer prices for March exceeded expectations, registering an annual growth of 2.3 percent, according to the Bank of Japan. This is up from a revised figure of 2.2 percent for February and outpaced the projected increase of 2.1 percent.
Meanwhile, in currency markets, the U.S. dollar traded in the upper range of 154 yen on Wednesday.
Globally, Wall Street stocks demonstrated strength as Tuesday ended, with technology stocks doing particularly well. Encouraging updates about earnings and a less tense atmosphere around interest rate outlook boosted sentiment.
In Europe, major markets closed on a high note. The German DAX Index surged 1.55 percent, France's CAC 40 gained by 0.81 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 increased by 0.26 percent.
Finally, crude oil prices experienced a surge on Tuesday. This occurred following news of slowed U.S. manufacturing activity in April, which has raised expectations of a potential Federal Reserve interest rate cut. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for June rose by $1.46 or 1.78 percent, closing at $83.36 a barrel.
