Nikkei 225 sees 22,500, equities continue to steadily eat away at January's decline

• Nikkei lifting back into fresh highs after Japan returns to markets following the long weekend.
• Japan's equities continue to climb as investors remain confident that interest rate increases are a long way off.

Japan's Nikkei 225 equity index is looking for a way higher, lifting back into the 22,500 area after Monday's US session plummet.

The Nikkei reached a three-month high yesterday while Japan was shuttered for the long weekend, and the index is continuing to trade on the high side as the Nikkei continues to press into the halfway mark of January's global equity snap.

Inflation expectations have been slumping in Japan as the Bank of Japan's (BoJ) super-easy monetary policies are beginning to have less of an inflation-causing effect as many had hoped, and Japanese equities continue to lift as market participants continue to shake off the fear of rising costs in the face of rising interest rates. The BoJ continues to remain stubbornly fixed on rates, and Japan looks unlikely to raise rates anytime in the near future.

Nikkei levels to watch

The index punched in a fresh high at 22,634 yesterday, and that figure could firm up as a resistance level if current action can't get the index to continue climbing, and support is looking thin to pump up any bearish corrections, with March's swing high at 22,100 with April's open at 21,450.