FX.co ★ Japanese Market Modestly Higher

The Japanese stock market was notably higher on Tuesday, following the trend of global markets, with the Nikkei 225 surpassing the 37,500 mark. Gains in financial stocks managed to partially counterbalance the losses in Index heavyweights.

The Nikkei 225 Index rose by 91.03 points or 0.24 percent to hit 37,529.64, showing an improvement from its previous high of 37,817.78. The Japanese stock market had already made substantial gains on Monday.

In terms of market heavyweights, SoftBank Group remained steady, while Fast Retailing, the company behind Uniqlo, saw a rise of more than 1 percent. Honda and Toyota, on the other hand, suffered slight losses of almost 1 and 0.5 percent, respectively.

There was a marginal decline in tech company Advantest, and Tokyo Electron dropped by almost 1 percent. Meanwhile, Screen Holdings saw a slight increase of 0.2 percent.

The banking sector experienced a boost with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial gaining almost 1 percent, and modest gains in Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial of 0.1 to 0.4 percent.

Most major exporters encountered weakness. Both Panasonic and Sony suffered nearly 1 percent losses, while Mitsubishi Electric fell by more than 1 percent. Conversely, Canon saw a small increase of 0.1 percent. Among the significant gainers, Osaka Gas rose by almost 4 percent.

Socionext, Lasertec, and Denso were the biggest losers, with declines of more than 5 percent, more than 4 percent, and almost 3 percent, respectively.

The U.S. dollar traded at a higher range against the yen on Tuesday. Wall Street stocks also continued to rise, notably the technology sector, offering some opportunity for bargain hunting following recent losses. This positive momentum was partly due to easing concerns about tensions in the Middle East.

The Dow, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq all closed with noticeable gains. Meanwhile, European market indexes, including the U.K.'s FTSE 100, the German DAX, and the French CAC 40, also moved higher.

Crude oil prices saw a slight decline on Monday, with concerns about the future of global oil demand and a sharp increase in U.S. crude inventories contributing to this drop. As a result, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May went down by $0.29 or 0.34 percent to $82.85 a barrel.