TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market bounced higher again on Tuesday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had added just 50 points or 0.2 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just beneath the 39,690-point plateau although it's likely to head south again on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is cloudy on lingering concerns over U.S. trade policy. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The Nikkei finished modestly higher on Tuesday following mixed performances from the automobile and technology stocks, while the financial sector was soft.
For the day, the index climbed 101.13 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 39,688.81 after trading between 39,510.48 and 39,816.27.
Among the actives, Nissan Motor plunged 6.35 percent, while Mazda Motor shed 0.66 percent, Toyota Motor added 0.47 percent, Honda Motor improved 0.77 percent, Softbank Group dropped 0.90 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial dipped 0.10 percent, Mizuho Financial lost 0.51 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial sank 0.75 percent, Mitsubishi Electric rose 0.33 percent, Sony Group fell 0.33 percent, Panasonic Holdings slumped 1.55 percent and Hitachi gained 0.47 percent.
The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages spent most of Tuesday's trade hugging the line, finally ending mixed and little changed.
The Dow shed 165.60 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 44,240.76, while the NASDAQ rose 5.95 points or 0.03 percent to close at 20,418.46 and the S&P 500 dipped 4.46 points or 0.07 percent to end at 6,225.52.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as investors were reluctant to make significant moves amid lingering uncertainty about President Donald Trump's erratic trade policies.
A lack of major U.S. economic data may also have kept some traders on the sidelines ahead of the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting on Wednesday.
The Fed minutes may shed light on the outlook for interest rates ahead of the central bank's next meeting on July 29-30. CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 95.3 percent chance the Fed will leave rates unchanged this month.
Crude oil prices moved higher on Tuesday on concerns over disruptions to the oil supply lines due to Houthi attacks. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery closed up by $0.40 at $68.33 per barrel.
Closer to home, Japan will see June numbers for its M2 money stock later this morning, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.2 percent on year - easing from 0.6 percent in May.
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