Japan Market May Crack Resistance At 36,000 Points

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Tuesday's holiday for Showa Day, the Japanese stock market had finished higher in four straight sessions, collecting almost 1,650 points or 4.6 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now sits just beneath the 35,840-point plateau and it's got a solid lead for Wednesday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on optimism ahead of earnings season. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index improved 134.25 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 35,839.99 after trading between 35,773.49 and 36,075.26.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor accelerated 2.33 percent, while Mazda Motor perked 0.11 percent, Toyota Motor soared 3.59 percent, Honda Motor advanced 0.97 percent, Softbank Group sank 0.97 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial rallied 2.13 percent, Mizuho Financial jumped 1.72 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial collected 2.01 percent, Mitsubishi Electric skidded 1.00 percent, Sony Group shed 0.42 percent, Panasonic Holdings strengthened 1.45 percent and Hitachi was up 0.08 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday but trended steadily upward throughout the session to finish with solid gains.

The Dow rallied 300.03 points or 0.75 percent to finish at 40,527.62, while the NASDAQ advanced 95.19 points or 0.55 percent to close at 17,461.32 and the S&P 500 gained 32.08 points or 0.58 percent to end at 5,560.83.

The strength that emerged on Wall Street came amid positive developments on the trade front, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick telling CNBC the Trump administration had reached its first trade deal.

Earlier in the day, traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of key earnings and economic news in the coming days.

Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Meta Platforms (META), Microsoft (MSFT), Visa (V), Eli Lilly (LLY), Chevron (CVX) and Exxon Mobil (XOM) are all due to report earnings this week.

Crude oil futures moved sharply on Tuesday amid ongoing concerns that a weakening U.S. economy and the U.S.-led trade war with partners will hurt energy demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery plunged $1.63 or 2.6 percent to $60.42 a barrel.

Closer to home, Japan is scheduled to release a batch of data this morning, including March figures for industrial production, retail sales, construction orders and housing starts, as well as February results for the leading and coincident indexes.

Industrial production is expected to sink 0.5 percent on month after rising 2.3 percent in February. Sales are seen higher by 3.6 percent on year, up from 1.4 percent in the previous month. Housing starts are seen higher by an annual 0.9 percent, moderating from 2.4 percent a month earlier.

Construction orders are tipped to fall 0.8 percent on year after contracting 3.3 percent in February. The leading index is expected to slip 0.3 percent on month after rising 04 percent in the previous month. The coincident is tipped to rise 0.8 percent on month, up from 0.1 percent a month earlier.