TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japan stock market has finished higher in two straight sessions, climbing more than 530 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now sits just beneath the 38,090-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky ahead of key upcoming talks between the United States and China. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The Nikkei finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares and technology stocks, while the automobile producers were mixed.
For the day, the index advanced 346.96 points or 0.92 percent to finish at 38,088.57 after trading between 38,018.22 and 38,178.01.
Among the actives, Nissan Motor retreated 1.28 percent, while Mazda Motor advanced 0.96 percent, Toyota Motor shed 0.45 percent, Honda Motor eased 0.14 percent, Softbank Group soared 4.98 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial both climbed 1.02 percent, Mizuho Financial collected 2.13 percent, Mitsubishi Electric rallied 3.13 percent, Panasonic Holdings tumbled 1.95 percent, Hitachi accelerated 2.29 percent and Sony Group was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is pedestrian as the major averages opened lower on Monday, moved into the green by midday but faded going into the close to end mixed and little changed.
The Dow dipped 1.11 points or 0.00 percent to finish at 42,761.76, while the NASDAQ added 61.28 points or 0.31 percent to close are 19,591.24 and the S&P 500 perked 5.52 points or 0.09 percent to end at 6,005.88.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders awaited any news of U.S.-China trade talks that in London later today that could help ease trade tensions between the two superpowers.
While most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, semiconductor stocks moved sharply higher on the day, driving the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up by 2.0 percent to its best closing level in over three months.
Crude oil rose on Monday due to hopes sparked by US-China trade talks and that the nearing summer travel season may boost energy demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery settled at $65.29 per barrel, up 71 cents, the highest since April 3.
Closer to home, Japan will release May numbers for M2 money stock later this morning, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.6 percent on year - up from 0.5 percent in April.
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