Japanese exports rise

A report on Wednesday showed that Japan's exports rose 3.9 percent in July from the previous year, the first increase in three months.

With imports rising 2.3 percent over the same period, the trade deficit narrowed 6.6 percent from the previous year.

Investors were unimpressed though. The Japanese stock market was essentially flat on Wednesday as the Nikkei 225 eked out a 0.03 percent rise.

Nevertheless, that enabled the index to extend its rally to eight days, its longest since last December.