FX.co ★ Japanese Market Modestly Higher

The Japanese stock market extended its gains for a third consecutive session on Tuesday, with the Nikkei 225 index modestly advancing past the 38,800 mark. This increase comes amid mixed signals from global markets overnight, buoyed by strong performances across most sectors, particularly index heavyweights, exporters, and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index climbed by 141.76 points, or 0.37 percent, to close at 38,842.63, after reaching an intraday high of 38,967.56. This follows a modest gain on Monday.

Leading gains among market heavyweights, SoftBank Group rose by nearly 1 percent, and Fast Retailing, the operator of Uniqlo, posted similar gains. Among automakers, both Honda and Toyota saw increases of nearly 1 percent each.

In the technology sector, Advantest edged up 0.3 percent, Screen Holdings rose by almost 1 percent, while Tokyo Electron remained flat.

The banking sector saw notable advances, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial rising nearly 2 percent each, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial gaining almost 1 percent.

Major exporters also posted gains, with Panasonic adding over 1 percent, Canon inching up 0.2 percent, Sony increasing by 1.5 percent, and Mitsubishi Electric remaining unchanged.

Other significant gainers included Sapporo Holdings, which surged nearly 5 percent, and NTT Data, CyberAgent, and Mitsubishi Chemical Group, each gaining over 4 percent. Resona Holdings, Mercari, Yamato Holdings, and Dai-ichi Life Holdings added more than 3 percent each, while NEC, Toho, Toray Industries, Rakuten Group, and T&D Holdings advanced almost 3 percent each.

However, there were notable declines for Fujikura, which fell almost 4 percent, and Hoya and Socionext, both down nearly 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the higher 146 yen range on Tuesday.

U.S. markets were closed on Monday in observance of Labor Day, following a strong close on Friday. In Europe, the major markets ended mixed on Monday. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 slipped by 0.15 percent, while Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 edged up by 0.13 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.