Japanese Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market is trading slightly higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving well above the 50,400 level, with gains in exporters and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 70.66 points or 0.14 percent at 50,473.05, after touching a high of 50,482.80 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging down 0.4 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is also edging down 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.1 percent and Toyota is flat.

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

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is adding more than 1 percent.

The major exporters are mostly higher. Panasonic, Mitsubishi Electric and Canon are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each, while Sony is gaining more than 2 percent.

Among the other major gainers, SHIFT is gaining more than 3 percent.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 156-yen range on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Monday, extending the strong upward move seen over the two previous sessions. The major averages all moved to the upside on the day following the mixed performance seen in the previous week.

The major averages finished the day off their highs of the session but still firmly in positive territory. The Dow rose 227.79 points or 0.5 percent to 48,362.68, the Nasdaq climbed 121.21 points or 0.5 percent to 23,428.83 and the S&P 500 advanced 43.99 points or 0.6 percent to 6,878.49.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.4 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index edged down by less than a tenth of a percent.

Crude oil prices surged on Monday as the conflict between the U.S. and Venezuela continue to escalate, while Russia and Ukraine remain heavily engaged. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery was up $1.43 or 2.53 percent at $57.95 per barrel.