Japanese Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is modestly higher on Tuesday after opening in the red, extending the gains in the previous three sessions, with the Nikkei 225 staying below the 32,300 level at fresh 33-year highs, despite the broadly negative cues from global markets overnight, with gains in technology and exporter stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 56.18 points or 0.17 percent at 32,273.61, after hitting a low of 31,933.87 and a high of 32,314.61 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding more than 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining almost 1 percent and Toyota is edging up 0.1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 2 percent, while Screen Holdings is gaining almost 2 percent and Tokyo Electron is adding almost 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are losing more than 1 percent each.

The major exporters are mixed. Mitsubishi Electric is gaining more than 1 percent and Panasonic is edging up 0.3 percent, while Canon and Sony are edging down 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.

Among the other major gainers, IHI Corp. is gaining more than 5 percent, while Ajinomoto, Kobe Steel and Kawasaki Heavy Industries are adding almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Shizuoka Financial is losing more than 3 percent and Concordia Financial is down almost 3 percent.

In economic news, the average of household spending in Japan was down 4.4 percent on year in April, the Ministry of Communications and Internal Affairs said on Tuesday - coming in at 303,076 yen. That missed expectations for an increase of 0.4 percent after sinking 1.9 percent in March.

On a monthly basis, household spending fell 1.3 percent - again shy of expectations for an increase of 1.5 percent following the 0.8 percent decline in March. The average of monthly income per household stood at 553,975 yen, down 1.4 percent on year.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 139 yen-range on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Monday following the rally seen to close out the previous week. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually finished the session in negative territory. The Nasdaq edged down 11.34 points or 0.1 percent to 13,229.43 and the S&P 500 dipped 8.58 points or 0.2 percent to 4,273.79, while the narrower Dow slid 199.90 points or 0.6 percent to 33,562.86.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1.0 percent, the German DAX Index fell by 0.5 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices settled higher Monday after Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude exporter, pledged to cut its production by another 1 million barrels per day in July. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended higher by $0.41 or 0.6 percent at $72.15 a barrel, off the intra-day high of $75.06.