Additional Support Tipped For Japan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, gathering more than 575 points or 1.4 percent in that span. The Nikkei 225 now rests just above the 39,025-point plateau and it's expected to extend its gains again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The Nikkei finished modestly higher on Tuesday following mixed performances from the financial shares and automobile producers, while the technology shares were soft.

For the day, the index advanced 125.48 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 39,027.98 after trading between 38,643.84 and 39,238.21.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor strengthened 1.23 percent, while Mazda Motor tanked 2.00 percent, Toyota Motor perked 0.19 percent, Honda Motor fell 0.27 percent, Softbank Group dipped 0.25 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial collected 0.13 percent, Mizuho Financial shed 0.43 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Hitachi both lost 0.68 percent, Mitsubishi Electric slid 0.46 percent, Sony Group eased 0.12 percent and Panasonic Holdings was down 0.03 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Tuesday and mostly stayed that way throughout the trading day.

The Dow soared 537.98 points or 1.24 percent to finish at 44,025.81, while the NASDAQ rallied 126.58 points or 0.64 percent to close at 19,756.78 and the S&P 500 gained 52.58 points or 0.88 percent to end at 6,049.24.

U.S. stocks were firmly in positive territory, with investors assessing the possible impact of the Trump administration's economic policies and likely tariff proposals.

Optimism about some interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year, and a drop in treasury yields also contributed to market's upside.

The recent retreat by treasury yields came as the U.S. inflation data released over the past few days led to renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

Oil prices tumbled on Tuesday, weighed down by Trump's plans to boost oil and gas production in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February closed down $1.99 or 2.56 percent at $75.89 a barrel.