TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market is rising on Tuesday despite the mixed lead overnight from Wall Street as investors look ahead to the Bank of Japan's monetary policy decision due later in the day.
Investors are also optimistic ahead of the resumption of U.S.-China trade talks this week and the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement due on Wednesday.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is rising 163.63 points or 0.76 percent to 21,780.43, after touching a high of 21,792.98 earlier. Japanese stocks closed lower on Monday.
The major exporters are mostly higher on a weaker yen. Mitsubishi Electric and Panasonic are advancing almost 2 percent each, while Sony is rising 0.6 percent. Canon is down 0.5 percent.
In the tech space, Tokyo Electron is gaining more than 3 percent and Advantest is rising 3 percent.
Market heavyweight SoftBank is declining almost 2 percent, while Fast Retailing is edging up 0.1 percent. In the auto sector, Honda Motor is up 0.6 percent and Toyota Motor is adding 0.4 percent.
Among oil stocks, Inpex is advancing almost 1 percent and Japan Petroluem is higher by 0.6 percent after crude oil prices rose overnight.
Among the other major gainers, Screen Holdings is gaining more than 4 percent and Hitachi is rising almost 4 percent. Fanuc and Kansai Electric Power are higher by more than 3 percent each.
On the flip side, Nippon Electric Glass is losing almost 6 percent and Tokuyama Corp. is lower by almost 5 percent.
On the economic front, the Bank of Japan will wrap up its monetary policy meeting today and then announce its decision on interest rates. The central bank is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at -0.1 percent.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said in a preliminary reading that industrial production in Japan was down a seasonally adjusted 3.6 percent on month in June. That missed forecasts for a decline of 1.8 percent following the 2.0 percent gain in May.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said that Japan's jobless rate came in at a seasonally adjusted 2.3 percent in June. That was beneath expectations for 2.4 percent, which would have been unchanged from the May reading.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 108 yen range on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed mixed on Monday as traders stuck to the sidelines ahead of the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. Assuming the Fed cuts rates as expected by at least 25 basis points, traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the potential for future rate cuts.
The Dow inched up 28.90 points or 0.1 percent to 27,221.35. The Nasdaq fell 36.88 points or 0.4 percent to 8,293.33 and the S&P 500 dipped 4.89 points or 0.2 percent to 3,020.97.
European stocks turned in a mixed performance on Monday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index spiked by 1.8 percent, the German DAX Index closed just below the unchanged line and the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.2 percent.
Crude oil prices moved higher on Monday, amid expectations the upcoming U.S.-China trade discussions will help the two countries move closer to agreeing on a near-term deal and on an imminent rate cut by the Federal Reserve. WTI crude for September settled at $56.87 a barrel, up $0.67 or about 1.2 percent from the previous close.
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