Rally May Stall For Japan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Japan stock market has finished higher in consecutive trading days, advancing almost 850 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Nikkei finished just beneath the 59,350-point plateau although it's likely to open under water on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets remains grim thanks to ongoing geopolitical concerns in the Middle East. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index climbed 524.27 points or 0.89 percent to finish at 59,349.17 after trading between 59,004.76 and 59,611.91. Among the actives, Nissan Motor tumbled 2.48 percent, while Mazda Motor tanked 2.04 percent, Toyota Motor plunged 3.24 percent, Honda Motor perked 0.07 percent, Softbank Group surged 8.53 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial retreated 1.39 percent, Mizuho Financial stumbled 1.89 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial slumped 1.87 percent, Mitsubishi Electric dropped 0.99 percent, Sony Group skidded 1.12 percent, Panasonic Holdings climbed 1.22 percent and Hitachi gained 0.70 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened higher on Tuesday but quickly turned lower and remained in the red for the remainder of the day, ending at session lows.

The Dow dropped 293.18 points of 0.59 percent to finish at 49,149.38, while the NASDAQ sank 144.43 points or 0.59 percent to end at 24,259.96 and the S&P 500 lost 45.13 points or 0.63 percent to close at 7,064.01.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came as the price of crude oil has moved sharply higher over the course of the day.

Crude oil prices continued to surge on Tuesday as the ongoing shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz kept supply disruption concerns alive. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was up $3.99 or 4.45 percent at $93.60 per barrel.

Earlier in the session, the markets benefitted from positive corporate earnings news from the likes of UnitedHealth (UNH) and homebuilder D.R. Horton (DHI), both of which handily beat expectations.

Early buying interest was also generated in reaction to a Commerce Department report showing retail sales in the U.S. surged by more than expected in the month of March.

Closer to home, Japan will release March figures for imports, exports and trade balance later this morning. Imports are expected to rise 7.1 percent on year, easing from 10.3 percent in February. Exports are called higher by an annual 11.0 percent, up from 4.0 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at 1.106 trillion yen, up from 44.3 billion yen a month earlier.