TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is higher on Wednesday on hopes of an economic recovery, as the country's gross domestic product for the first quarter beat market expectations. Meanwhile, shares of airbag maker Takata tumbled after the company announced plans to double a recall of vehicles due to its defective air bags.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 127.12 points or 0.63 percent to 20,153.50, off a high of 20,207.10 in early trades.
In the auto sector, Toyota is gaining almost 1 percent, Honda (HMC) is adding 0.8 percent and Nissan is up 0.2 percent.
Meanwhile, shares of Takata Corp are declining more than 8 percent after the Japanese air bag maker said it has agreed to declare nearly 34 million vehicles in the U.S. as defective due to problems with air bag inflators.
Among the major banks, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MTU) is adding 0.2 percent, Mizuho Finanical is advancing 0.8 percent and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is rising more than 2 percent.
Kyushu Electric Power and Mitsubishi Corp will join hands to build a geothermal power plant in Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture by 2029. Shares of Kysuhu Electric are gaining more than 3 percent, while Mitsubishi is down 0.3 percent.
Among the major exporters, Sony Corp. (SNE) is down 0.8 percent and Nikon is lower by almost 1 percent, while Panasonic is gaining 2 percent.
In the tech space, Fanuc is up 0.5 percent and Casio Computer is adding almost 3 percent, while Sharp is down 0.6 percent.
Among the other market heavyweights, mobile carrier Softbank is edging down 0.01 percent. Fast Retailing, the operator of Uniqlo clothing stores, is adding 0.4 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Shiseido Co. is up more than 5 percent, Nisshin Seifun Group is gaining almost 5 percent and Yokohama Rubber is rising more than 3 percent. Meanwhile, Nippon Light Metal is declining more than 2 percent and Mitsui Mining & Smelting is down more than 1 percent.
On the economic front, Japan's gross domestic product climbed 0.6 percent on quarter in the first quarter of 2015, the Cabinet Office said in its preliminary reading. That topped expectations for an increase of 0.4 percent, and it was also up from the downwardly revised 0.3 percent rate of growth in the fourth quarter.
On an annualized yearly basis, GDP climbed 2.4 percent - also exceeding forecasts for an increase of 1.6 percent following the downwardly revised 1.5 percent gain in the three months prior.
Japan will also see final March numbers for the leading and coincident indexes.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the upper 120 yen-range on Wednesday, up from Tuesday's close in the upper 119 yen range.
On Wall Street, stocks closed roughly flat on Tuesday, but the Dow still reached another new record closing high. Uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets and a report from the Commerce Department showing a better-than-expected increase in housing starts in the month of April contributed to the choppy trading.
While the Dow crept up 13.51 points or 0.1 percent to 18,312.39, the Nasdaq dipped 8.41 points or 0.2 percent to 5,070.03 and the S&P 500 edged down 1.37 points or 0.1 percent to 2,127.83.
The major European markets all moved to the upside on Tuesday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index jumped by 2.1 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively.
U.S. crude oil plunged to end sharply lower for a fifth straight session on Tuesday, as the dollar soared against some major currencies on comments from European Central Bank officials. This is the lowest close for oil in the month.
Crude oil futures for July delivery, the most actively traded contract, plummeted $2.25 or 3.7 percent to settle at $57.99 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX