The September crude oil futures contract in NYMEX ACCESS trade at 11:15 Tokyo time on Wednesday was at $39.79 per barrel (bbl), up 28cts from the closing price in New York on Tuesday while the October Brent contract in ICE After Hours Trading was at $42.04/bbl, up 24cts from the previous day. "Buying in response to price declines over the past is pulling prices higher," Tatsufumi Okoshi, a senior economist at Nomura Securities said. In NYMEX on Tuesday, WTI crude prices dropped below $40, a level not seen in almost four months. Meanwhile, the Nikkei Stock Average lost 146.80 points in Wednesday morning trade declining to 16,497.01 as the dollar depreciated to 105.12 to the yen.

RECX-22 index for Wednesday was at 62.03 points, down 1.79 points from Tuesday amid declines in most import and export indices.