Nikkei rises but fails to exceed 27,000

Japan’s Nikkei rose on Tuesday, but was unable to close above the psychologically important 27,000 point level, as concerns over the upcoming earnings season, a weaker yen and the outlook for US monetary policy limited its gains.

The Nikkei closed up 0.69 percent to 26,985.09 points, after it swung in the afternoon trading around 27 thousand points.

And it had fallen in the morning to a low of 26,777.71 points, and incurred losses for a short period, after its level at the opening was near its highest level on Tuesday at 27100.59.

Of the 225 stocks on the Nikkei, 190 rose, 33 fell, and two closed unchanged.

Chipmakers were among the biggest gainers in terms of points on the index, with Tokyo Electron advancing 2.29 percent and Advantest rising 3.01 percent, tracking gains made by its US peers overnight.

But Fast Retailing, the operator of clothing chain Uniqlo and SoftBank Group that invests in emerging companies, which are heavyweights on the index, lost 1.72% and 1.88%, respectively, dropping the Nikkei 61 points.

The broader Topix index rose 0.83 percent to 1,895.70 points.

All but four of the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s 33 subsectors posted gains.