Japanese Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is modestly higher on Tuesday, recouping some of the losses in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 32,400 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight and boosted by with gains in exporters and financial stocks. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 66.02 points or 0.20 percent at 32,457.28, after touching a high of 32,714.59 earlier. Japanese shares ended slightly lower on Friday prior to the holiday on Monday. Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.4 percent. Among automakers, Honda is flat and Toyota is gaining almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is edging up 0.4 percent and Tokyo Electron is adding almost 2 percent, while Screen Holdings is losing almost 1 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding more than 2 percent.

The major exporters are mixed. Mitsubishi Electric and Canon are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Panasonic and Sony are adding almost 2 percent each. Among the other major gainers, Renesas Electronics, Resona Holdings and OKUMA are up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Rakuten Group is plunging more than 7 percent and CyberAgent is losing almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 138 yen-range on Tuesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks saw some further upside during trading on Monday following the strong upward move seen last week. With the continued advance, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 once again reached their best closing levels in over a year.

The major averages pulled back off their best levels going into the close but remained in positive territory. The Nasdaq jumped 131.25 points or 0.9 percent to 14,244.95, the S&P 500 climbed 17.37 points or 0.4 percent to 4,522.79 and the Dow rose 76.32 points or 0.2 percent to 34,585.35.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index tumbled 1.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index declined by 0.4 percent and the German DAX Index dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil futures fell on Monday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand after data showed the Chinese economy grew at slower than expected pace in the second quarter. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended lower by $1.27 or 1.7 percent at $74.15 a barrel.