Rally May Stall For Japan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has tracked higher in back-to-back sessions, surging more than 2,400 points or 4.7 percent to a record closing high. The Nikkei 225 now sits just beneath the 53,550-point plateau although it's likely to run out of steam on Wednesday,

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft thanks to geopolitical concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down, likely consigning Asian markets at records highs to profit taking.

The Nikkei finished sharply higher on Tuesday with gains across the board, especially among the financial hares, technology stocks and automobile producers.

For the day, the index skyrocketed 1,609.26 points or 3.10 percent to finish at 53,549.16 after trading between 52,741.64 and 53,814.79. Among the actives, Nissan Motor accelerated 1.76 percent, while Mazda Motor spiked 2.43 percent, Toyota Motor soared 7.47 percent, Honda Motor expanded 2.00 percent, Softbank Group vaulted 4.32 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial rallied 5.30 percent, Mizuho Financial surged 5.39 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial collected 3.08 percent, Mitsubishi Electric jumped 6.38 percent, Sony Group slumped 1.06 percent, Panasonic Holdings climbed 5.42 percent and Hitachi advanced 3.80 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday but quickly headed south and spent most of the balance of the day in the red, finishing off session lows.

The Dow dropped 398.21 points or 0.80 percent to finish at 49,191.99, while the NASDAQ sank 24.03 points or 0.10 percent to close at 23,709.87 and the S&P 500 dipped 13.53 points or 0.19 percent to end at 6,963.74.

The choppy trading by the broader markets reflected uncertainty about the near-term outlook amid rising geopolitical tensions around the world and a flurry of proposals by President Donald Trump.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased in line with economist estimates in the month of December.

Crude oil prices skyrocketed on Tuesday, extending a recent surge amid increasing geopolitical risks due to escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran, which have raised output-and-supply concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery was up $1.55 or 2.61 percent at $61.05 per barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will see December data for machine tool orders and money stock later today. Tool orders are expected to see an increase of 14.2 percent on year, easing from 16.8 percent in November. The M2 money stock is tipped to rise 1.9 percent on year, up from 1.8 percent a month earlier.