Nikkei rises, tracking Wall Street ahead of US inflation data

Japan’s Nikkei rose on Tuesday after Wall Street’s rally overnight, as investors take positions ahead of key US inflation data later in the day that could determine the direction of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy.

The Japanese government nominated Kazuo Ueda for the post of Governor of the Bank of Japan in line with what was reported by the media, which limited the impact on the market.

The Nikkei index closed up 0.64 percent at 27,602.77 points. It had risen to 27,721.82 early in the session, close to the two-month high it recorded last week at 27,821.22 points.

“Tonight we will get the highly anticipated US CPI data, and it will certainly have a significant impact on the market direction,” said Kazuo Kamitani, strategist at Nomura.

And the broader Topix index rose 0.78 percent to 1993.09.