Equity Trading Tips: TOKYO: Japan's Nikkei share average hike to a new 1-1/2 week high on Wednesday morning after gains in Wall Street boosted sentiment, while a weaker ¥ triggered bargain-hunting on recently battered stocks such as automakers and bank shares.

The Nikkei soared 2.6% to 16,347.51 in mid-morning trade, the highest since April 1.

The dollar was back above 108.50¥, having climbed from a near 18-month trough around 107.63 set on Monday.

Wall Street gained on buying in energy shares supported by rising oil Cost, before falling on profit taking in Asian morning trade. Brent crude dropped 27 cents to 44.32 Dollar a barrel as of 0207 GMT, after hitting a four-month high in the previous session.

As banks soared, risk appetite returned, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group soaring 4.5% and Mizuho Financial Group surging 3.2%.

But traders said that such bargain-hunting hike may be short-lived as investors continue to worry about the volatile currency market.

"The most volatile market now is the foreign exchange market, and Japanese stocks will likely to be swayed by it for a while," said by Mr. Takuya Takahashi, a strategist at Daiwa Securities.

Exporters were bought as well, with Toyota Motor Corp gaining 2.0%, Honda Motor Co adding 2.5% and Panasonic Corp advancing 2.2%.

While all of the Topix's 33 subsectors were in (+)v territory, department store operator Takashimaya Co tumbled 6.9% after it forecast a modest 3.1% gain in its operating profit for the year ending Feb 28, 2017, with total profit estimates nearly flat at 24 billion ¥.

The broader Topix gained 2.2% to 1,327.43 and the JPX-Nikkei Index 400 rose 2.3% to 11,989.53.