Japanese Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is modestly higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous four sessions, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 27,700 level, despite the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, driven by gains in technology and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 51.40 points or 0.19 percent at 27,745.05, after touching a high of 27,814.96 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly higher on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.3 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.1 percent and Toyota is also edging down 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining almost 2 percent, while Tokyo Electron and Screen Holdings are adding almost 1 percent each.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are gaining almost 3 percent each.

The major exporters are mixed. Panasonic and Canon are edging down 0.5 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is edging up 0.1 percent. Sony is flat. Among the other major gainers, Yamato Holdings is soaring more than 7 percent, Hitachi Zosen is surging more than 5 percent, Osaka Gas is gaining more than 4 percent and Concordia Financial Group is adding almost 4 percent, while Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ajinomoto and Keio are advancing more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, JFE Holdings is plunging almost 8 percent.

In economic news, the average of household spending in Japan was down 1.3 percent on year in December, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Tuesday. That missed forecasts for a decline of 0.,2 percent following the 1.2 percent annual drop in November. On a monthly basis, household spending slipped 2.1 percent - again shy of expectations for a gain of 0.3 percent following the 0.9 percent decline a month earlier.

The average of monthly income per household stood at 1,150,808 yen, down 0.4 percent on year. Overall wages were up 4.8 percent in December, while overtime pay increased 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 132 yen-range on Tuesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks saw further downside during trading on Monday following the sharp pullback seen last Friday. With the decline, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 fell further from multi-month highs.

The major averages all closed in negative territory, although the Dow showed a relatively modest drop, edging down 34.99 points or 0.1 percent to 33,891.02. The tech-heavy Nasdaq tumbled 119.50 points or 1.0 percent to 11,887.45, while the S&P 500 slid 25.40 points or 0.6 percent to 4,111.08.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1.3 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both fell by 0.8 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Monday on optimism energy demand from China will see a big jump after Saudi Arabia unexpectedly increased the prices of oil to be shipped to Asia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $0.72 or 1 percent at $74.11 a barrel.