Japan Stock Market May Extend Tuesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Japan stock market on Tuesday wrote a finish to the three-day losing streak in which it had dropped more than 530 points or 1.4 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 38,790-point plateau and it's expected to see additional support on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat following news of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The Nikkei finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares and technology stocks, although the automobile producers were soft.

For the day, the index accelerated 436.47 points or 1.14 percent to finish at 38,790.56 after trading between 38,665.61 and 38,990.11.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor stumbled 2.55 percent, while Mazda Motor eased 0.06 percent, Toyota Motor dipped 0.14 percent, Honda Motor retreated 1.14 percent, Softbank Group surged 5.58 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial jumped 1.68 percent, Mizuho Financial collected 2.58 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi Electric both strengthened 1.23 percent, Sony Group rallied 1.53 percent, Panasonic Holdings spiked 1.87 percent and Hitachi accelerated 1.99 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened solidly higher and remained in the green throughout the trading day, ending near session highs.

The Dow jumped 507.24 points or 1.19 percent to finish at 43,089.02, while the NASDAQ rallied 281.56 points or 1.43 percent to close at 19,912.53 and the S&P 500 improved 67.01 points or 1.11 percent to end at 6,092.18.

The continued strength on Wall Street came after news that a ceasefire between Israel and Iran is now in effect. While both sides have accused each other of violating the ceasefire, traders appeared to remain optimistic about easing tensions in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicating the central bank will remain on hold despite pressure from Trump to lower interest rates.

On the U.S. economic front, the Conference Board released a report showing an unexpected deterioration by consumer confidence in the month of June.

Closer to home, Japan will see May numbers for corporate service prices and April figures for the leading and coincident indexes later today. Corporate service prices are expected to climb 3.1 percent on year, steady from the April reading. The leading index is expected to slip 4.2 percent on month after easing 0.1 percent in March. The coincident index is tipped to fall 0.3 percent after shedding 1.4 percent a month earlier.