Mild Upside Seen For Japan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, gathering more than 150 points or 0.4 percent in that span. The Nikkei 225 now rests just above the 39,270-point plateau and it may see additional support on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to higher amidst a lack of strong catalysts. The European and U.S. markets finished barely higher and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The Nikkei finished slightly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares and automobile producers, while the technology stocks were mostly lower.

For the day, the index rose 96.15 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 39,270.40 after trading between 39,151.71 and 39,508.55.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor accelerated 3.66 percent, while Mazda Motor rallied 1.28 percent, Toyota Motor climbed 1.10 percent, Honda Motor shed 0.46 percent, Softbank Group collected 0.34 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial jumped 1.99 percent, Mizuho Financial strengthened 1.61 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial improved 0.83 percent, Mitsubishi Electric lost 0.65 percent, Sony Group tumbled 1.94 percent, Panasonic Holdings surged 4.14 percent and Hitachi slumped 1.70 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is flat to higher as the major averages spent most of Tuesday in the shallow red before a late push nudged them barely into positive territory at the close.

The Dow added 10.26 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 44,556.34, while the NASDAQ rose 14.49 points or 0.07 percent to close at 20,041.26 and the S&P gained 14.95 points or 0.24 percent to end at a record 6,139.58.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as some traders remained on the sidelines following the Presidents' Day holiday on Monday.

In economic news, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York noted a turnaround by regional manufacturing activity in February. Also, the National Association of Home Builders said homebuilder confidence in the U.S. has unexpectedly deteriorated in February.

Oil prices moved higher on Tuesday on supply concerns after Ukraine launched a drone attack on an export pipeline in Russia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March settled at $71.85 a barrel, gaining $1.11, or 1.57 percent.

Closer to home, Japan will see January data for imports, exports and trade balance later this morning, as well as core machinery order figures for December. Machinery orders are tipped to add 0.3 percent on month and 6.9 percent on year, easing from 3.4 percent on month and 10.3 percent on year in November.

Imports are expected to climb 9.7 percent on year, up from 1.7 percent in December. Exports are called higher by an annual 7.9 percent, up from 2.8 percent in the previous month. The trade deficit is pegged at 2.104 trillion yen following the 132.5 billion yen surplus a month earlier.