Higher Open Called For Japan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market on Tuesday ended the three-day losing streak in which it had slipped almost 240 points or 0.6 percent. The Nikkei 225 now rests just above the 37,780-point plateau and it's expected to extend its gains on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside, supported by oil companies and technology stocks. The European and U.S. markets finished higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index jumped 172.05 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 37,780.54 after trading between 37,686.26 and 38,115.65.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor climbed 1.13 percent, while Mazda Motor dipped 0.05 percent, Toyota Motor added 0.68 percent, Honda Motor perked 0.10 percent, Softbank Group collected 0.41 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial sank 0.83 percent, Mizuho Financial retreated 1.44 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial declined 1.24 percent, Mitsubishi Electric tumbled 1.52 percent, Sony Group was up 0.05 percent, Panasonic Holdings shed 0.35 percent and Hitachi gained 0.51 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages hugged both sides of the line on Tuesday before a late push bumped them into the green at the close.

The Dow added 4.18 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 42,587.50, while the NASDAQ climbed 83.26 points or 0.46 percent to close at 18,271.86 and the S&P 500 rose 9.08 points or 0.16 percent to end at 5,776.65.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came amid ongoing uncertainty about President Donald Trump's tariff plans following recent reports he plans to take a more narrow approach to new tariffs.

Trump has recently made many conflicting remarks about his tariff plans, leading to considerable uncertainty on Wall Street.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a report from the Conference Board showing consumer confidence in the U.S. deteriorated by more than expected in the month of March.

Oil prices dipped on Tuesday on reports Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a partial ceasefire covering the Black Sea. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May closed lower by $0.11 at $69.00 a barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will release February figures for producer prices later this morning; they're seen steady, up 3.1 percent on year. Japan also will see January results for its leading and coincident indexes; in December, they were up 0.5 percent and 1.0 percent on month, respectively.