By 0144 GMT, the Nikkei .N225 was up 0.33% at 32,377.53 after opening 0.75% higher. It pared early gains as some investors booked profits from a recent rally.
U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq notching their longest streak of gains in two years, as a retreat in U.S. Treasury yields buoyed megacap growth stocks.
“The Japanese market overall is firm, with investors buying companies which reported strong results,” said Shoichi Arisawa, general manager of theinvestment researchdepartment at IwaiCosmo Securities.
“But investors continued to sell stocks to lock in profits from sharp gains last week. They were just trying to control the speed of the Nikkei’s gains.”
The Nikkei fell 1.3% on Tuesday after rising more than 6% in four straight sessions of gains.
Among individual stocks, Nintendo 7974.T jumped 5.7% on Wednesday after the gaming firm raised its operating profit forecast by 11% for the financial year ending March.
Mazda Motor 7261.T rose 13.28% after the automaker raised its annual operating profit forecast on the back of a weakened yen.
The broader Topix .TOPX was down 0.55% to 2,319.97. Mitsui & Co 8031.T fell 3.33% to drag the index the most, while peer Itochu Corp 8001.T slipped 1.83%.
Energy sectors were weak as oil prices fell, with refiners .IPETE.T losing 4.25% to become the worst performer among the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s 33 industry sub-indexes. Energy explorers .IMING.T lost 4.03%.
The banking sector .IBNK.T lost 3.13%.
Source : Nasdaq
