The Japanese stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, collecting more than 1,050 points or 2.8 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now rests just beneath the 37,850-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of the FOMC rate decision later today. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The Nikkei finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers.
For the day, the index rallied 448.90 points or 1.20 percent to finish at 37,845.42 after trading between 37,822.87 and 38,004.20.
Among the actives, Nissan Motor strengthened 1.57 percent, while Mazda Motor accelerated 3.07 percent, Toyota Motor spiked 2.84 percent, Honda Motor soared 2.85 percent, Softbank Group dipped 0.19 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial rallied 3.74 percent, Mizuho Financial collected 2.04 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial jumped 2.31 percent, Mitsubishi Electric stumbled 2.97 percent, Sony Group climbed 1.73 percent, Panasonic Holdings advanced 2.56 percent and Hitachi gained 1.55 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day, ending near session lows.
The Dow tumbled 260.32 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 41,581.31, while the NASDAQ plunged 304.55 points or 1.71 percent to close at 17,504.12 and the S&P 500 sank 60.46 points or 1.07 percent to end at 5,614.66.
Concerns about the impact of President Donald Trump's trade policies continued to weigh along with worries about the economic outlook despite the release of some upbeat economic data.
The Federal Reserve said industrial production in the U.S. increased much more than expected in January. Also, the Commerce Department said new residential construction rebounded more than anticipated in February.
Traders were also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy announcement later today. While the Fed is expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will look to the accompanying statement as well as officials' latest projections for clues about the outlook for rates.
Oil futures settled lower on Tuesday as concerns about supply disruptions eased, while worries about global growth due to the impact of U.S. trade tariffs weighed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $0.68 or 1 percent at $66.90 a 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 keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 0.50 percent.
Japan also will see January figures for core machinery orders and industrial production, as well as February data for imports, exports and trade balance. Machine orders are expected to slip 0.1 percent on month and gain 6.9 percent on year after falling 1.2 percent on month and adding 4.3 percent on year in December.
Imports are expected to add 0.1 percent on year after climbing 16.7 percent in January. Exports are called higher by an annual 12.1 percent, accelerating from 7.2 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at 722.8 billion yen following the 2,758.8 billion yen deficit a month earlier.
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Market Analysis
March 21, 2025 09:58 ET Central banks, led by the U.S. Fed, were in focus this week as they announced their latest policy moves. The Fed revealed the latest interest rate decision and outlook mid-week. Economic data released this week in the U.S. included retail sales figures for February. In Europe, central banks of the U.K. and Switzerland, among several others, announced their rate decisions. The Bank of Japan was in the news in Asia as it revealed its latest policy decision.