The Japanese stock market is advancing on Wednesday despite the weak cues overnight from Wall Street and following the sharp losses in the previous session.
Investor sentiment received a boost after the International Monetary Fund or IMF raised its outlook for global economic growth this year to 5.5 percent from 5.2 percent projected earlier.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 134.96 points or 0.47 percent to 28,681.14 after rising to a high of 28,754.99. The Japanese market closed lower on Tuesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is adding 0.3 percent and Fast Retailing is up 0.2 percent. In the tech space, Advantest is lower by almost 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is down 0.6 percent.
The major exporters are mostly higher despite a slightly stronger yen. Panasonic is gaining more than 3 percent, Canon is rising almost 2 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is advancing more than 1 percent, while Sony is lower by 0.4 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is lower by 0.2 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is down 0.1 percent. Among automakers, Toyota is adding 0.2 percent and Honda is edging up 0.1 percent.
Among the other major gainers, NGK Insulators is rising more than 6 percent, JTEKT Corp. is higher by more than 4 percent and Nisshin Seifun Group is higher by more than 2 percent.
Conversely, M3 is lower by more than 3 percent and Nippon Steel is losing more than 2 percent.
In economic news, Japan will see final November numbers for its leading and coincident indexes today.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 103 yen-range on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed lower on Tuesday, partly reflecting uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the after the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 climbed to new record closing highs on Monday. Optimism about additional stimulus under President Joe Biden has helped drive stocks higher in recent sessions, although reports have pointed to intensifying opposition from GOP lawmakers. Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.
The Dow slipped 22.96 points or 0.1 percent to 30,937.04, the Nasdaq edged down 9.93 points or 0.1 percent to 13,626.07 and the S&P 500 dipped 5.74 points or 0.2 percent to 3,849.62.
Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on Tuesday. While the German DAX Index surged up by 1.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.9 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged up by 0.2 percent.
Crude oil futures settled lower on Tuesday, as traders looked ahead to weekly inventory data, and appeared a bit hesitant to create significant long positions due to the uncertain outlook for energy demand. WTI crude for March delivery dipped $0.16 or about 0.3 percent to $52.61 a barrel.
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