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.
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April 24, 2026 15:15 ET Economics news flow was relatively light this week even as the conflict in the Middle East continued, raising concerns for policymakers. In the U.S., spending data, initial jobless claims and pending home sales were the highlights. Business confidence in the biggest euro area economy was in focus in Europe. Inflation data from Japan gained attention in Asia.