Win Streak May Continue For Japan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting more than 600 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now rests just beneath the 37,400-point plateau and it may extend its gains on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive ahead of the FOMC meeting later this week. The European and U.S. markets moved higher and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

The Nikkei finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers.

For the day, the index gained 343.42 points or 0.93 percent to finish at 37,396.52 after trading between 37,377.55 and 37,563.27.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor rose 0.23 percent, while Mazda Motor climbed 1.02 percent, Toyota Motor added 0.51 percent, Honda Motor accelerated 1.79 percent, Softbank Group jumped 1.82 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial collected 1.47 percent, Mizuho Financial gained 0.55 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial improved 0.65 percent, Mitsubishi Electric surged 6.27 percent, Sony Group rallied 2.02 percent, Panasonic Holdings strengthened 1.39 percent and Hitachi soared 2.55 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Monday, dipped midday but still finished solidly in the green.

The Dow jumped 353.44 points or 0.85 percent to finish at 41,841.63, while the NASDAQ climbed 54.58 points or 0.31 percent to close at 17,808.66 and the S&P 500 improved 36.18 points or 0.64 percent to end at 5,675.12.

The strength on Wall Street came as traders continued to pick up stocks at reduced levels following recent weakness, which saw the S&P 500 plunge into correction territory last Thursday.

Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to the Commerce Department's report on U.S. retail sales in the month of February, which wasn't as bad as feared.

However, traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. While the Fed is almost universally expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will look to the accompanying statement and officials' latest projections for clues about the outlook for rates.

Oil futures rose on Monday on hopes of improved demand from China after plans to boost consumer spending, and on possible supply disruptions due to the tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April closed higher by $0.40 or 0.6 percent at $67.58 a barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will see January results for its tertiary industry activity index later today; in December, the index was at 7.10.