TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japan stock market has finished higher in back-to-back sessions, accelerating almost 1,400 points or 2.3 percent on its way to a fresh record closing high. The Nikkei now sits just above the 60,530-point plateau although investors may cash in on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is unclear amid uncertainties surrounding the conflict in the Middle East. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The Nikkei finished sharply higher on Monday as the financial shares and technology stocks were mostly in the green, although the automobile producers were soft.
For the day, the index jumped 821.18 points or 1.38 percent to finish at 60,537.36 after trading between 59,608.63 and 60,903.95.
Among the actives, Nissan Motor shed 0.54 percent, while Mazda Motor sank 0.73 percent, Honda Motor fell 0.31 percent, Softbank Group tumbled 2.00 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial climbed 1.18 percent, Mizuho Financial rallied 2.66 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial collected 1.07 percent, Mitsubishi Electric improved 0.82 percent, Sony Group lost 0.62 percent, Panasonic Holdings surged 7.78 percent, Hitachi spiked 2.43 percent and Toyota Motor was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened mixed on Monday and hugged the line throughout the session before ending on oppositive sides.
The Dow sank 62.92 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 49,167.79, while the NASDAQ climbed 50.50 points or 0.20 percent to close at 24,887.10 and the S&P 500 rose 8.83 points or 0.12 percent to end at 7,173.91.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves amid a lack of clarity about the situation in the Middle East after U.S.-Iran peace talks stalled over the weekend.
Traders are also likely to keep an eye on the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision scheduled for Wednesday. While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, the central bank's accompanying statement may provide clues about the outlook for rates.
Crude oil prices soared on Monday after the proposed U.S.-Iran negotiations were called off by the U.S. as supply disruption concerns continue. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery was up $2.32 or 2.46 percent at $96.72 per barrel.
Closer to home, the Bank of Japan will wrap up its monetary policy meeting this morning and then announce its decision on interest rates; the BoJ is widely expected to leave its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 0.75 percent.
Japan also will see March data for unemployment; the jobless rate is expected to see no change at 2.6 percent, while the jobs-to-applicant ratio is expected to dip to 1.18 from 1.19 in February.
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