(RTTNews) – The Japanese stock market is slightly higher on Tuesday, recouping losses from the previous session, with the benchmark Nikkei rising above the 27,300 level, despite mostly negative signals from Wall Street overnight , as traders continue to recover stocks to a bargain after last month’s rout, even as the meteoric spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus continues across the country, with many parts of the country hitting record highs. The benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 102.17 points or 0.37% to 27,351.04, after hitting a high of 27,461.33 earlier. Japanese stocks closed noticeably lower on Monday.

The SoftBank group, heavyweight in the market, and the Uniqlo operator, Fast Retailing, each gained nearly 1%. Among automakers, Honda is up 0.5% and Toyota is up nearly 1%.

In technology, Advantest lost 0.3% and Screen Holdings lost almost 1%, while Tokyo Electron gained almost 1%. In banking, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial each gained more than 1%, while Mizuho Financial gained nearly 1%. Major exporters are mostly higher. Panasonic is up 0.4%, while Mitsubishi Electric and Canon add nearly 1% each. Sony is down almost 1%.

Other big winners include Ricoh soaring over 6%, Maruha Nichiro jumping nearly 6%, and Hitachi Zosen up nearly 5%, while Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, West Japan Railway, and Konica Minolta add nearly 4%. % each.

Conversely, DIC Corp. plunges more than 11% and Olympus loses more than 6%.

In economic news, average household spending in Japan fell 0.2 percent year-on-year in December, the Ministry of Communications and Home Affairs said on Tuesday, to 317,206 yen. This missed expectations of a 0.3% increase after the 1.3% decline the previous month. The average monthly income per household stood at 1,102,091 yen, up 4.6% year on year. On a monthly basis, household spending rose 0.1% – again missing expectations of a 0.7% increase after falling 1.2% in November.

Japan also posted a current account deficit of 370.8 billion yen in December, the finance ministry said on Tuesday – missing expectations of a surplus of 73.5 billion yen after the surplus of 897.3 billion yen in November. Exports rose 18/7% year on year to 7,797 billion yen, while imports jumped 44.8% year on year to 8,115 billion yen for a trade deficit of 318.7 billion yen. The financial account recorded a deficit of 34.7 billion yen, while the capital account recorded a deficit of 58.4 billion yen. For 2021 as a whole, the current account surplus was 15.435 trillion yen, down 2.8% year on year.

In addition, total bank loans in Japan rose 0.6 percent year on year for the second consecutive month in January, the Bank of Japan said Tuesday, reaching 581.196 billion yen. Excluding trusts, loans also rose 0.6% year-on-year to 504.781 billion yen.

In the currency market, the US dollar is trading in the lower range of 115 yen on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks failed to hold onto their gains and ended on a negative note Monday after a cautious and somewhat lackluster session. Traders remained largely reluctant to build positions as they awaited the release of inflation data and the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest monetary policy meeting, for directional clues.

Among the major averages, the S&P 500 ended down 16.66 points or 0.37% at 4,483.87 from a high of 4,521.86, while the Nasdaq settled at 14,015. .67, resulting in a loss of 82.34 points or 0.58%. The Dow Jones ended the session with just a small gain of 1.39 points to 35,091.13.

Meanwhile, major European markets traded higher on the day. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.76%, Germany’s DAX 0.71% and France’s CAC 40 0.83%.

Crude oil futures fell on Monday amid signs that nuclear talks between the US and Iran are moving in a positive direction, so there could be a lifting of US sanctions on sales of Iranian oil. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for March ended down $0.99 or 1.1% at $91.32 a barrel.

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