Japanese Market Slightly Higher

The Japanese stock market is slightly higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 moving to a tad below the 32,200 level, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, with the market paring early gains after domestic data showed unemployment rate surprisingly increasing in July.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 24.60 points or 0.08 percent at 32,194.59, after touching a high of 32,389.12 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is also edging up 0.5 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.4 percent and Toyota is also edging down 0.5 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing almost 1 percent and Screen Holdings is declining almost 2 percent, while Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.3 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.3 percent.

The major exporters are mixed. Canon and Sony are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 1 percent. Panasonic is losing almost 1 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Tokyo Electric Power is gaining almost 6 percent, Nippon Sheet Glass is adding almost 5 percent and Mitsui E&S is advancing more than 3 percent, while CyberAgent, Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Isetan Mitsukoshi and J. Front Retailing are up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In economic news, the unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 2.7 percent in July, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Tuesday. That exceeded expectations for 2.5 percent, which would have been unchanged from the June reading. The jobs-to-applicant ratio ticked down to 1.29, shy of forecasts for 1.30, which again would have been unchanged. The participation rate was 63.1 percent, matching forecasts and steady from the June level.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 146 yen-range on Tuesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks settled firmly in positive territory on Monday despite seeing some wild swings during the course of the day’s session.

The major averages all closed notably higher. The Dow settled with a gain of 213.18 points or 0.62 percent at 3,560.08. The S&P 500 ended up 27.57 points or 0.63 percent at 4,433.28, while the Nasdaq climbed 114.48 points or 0.84 percent at 13,705.13.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. The Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 ended higher by 1.03 percent, and 1.32 percent, respectively. The U.K. market remained closed for Late Summer Bank Holiday.

Crude oil prices edged higher on Monday on optimism that energy operations in the Gulf Coast of Florida may be affected by severe weather conditions this week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $0.27 or 0.3 percent at $80.10 a barrel.

Market Analysis