OVERNIGHT

The Nikkei bumped up Tuesday 2.1% to just over 17,000 n early trading as the U.S. dollar rose strongly against the yen after two members of the Federal Reserve came out for hiking interest rates sooner rather than later, Reuters reported.

Japanese exporters gained on the dollar rise, hitting 112 yen, in a rebound from nearly a year and a half low of 110.67 seen last week. The BOJ has been in its negative zero interest rate mode for a while now and was caught off guard when the yen rallied against the dollar shortly after announcing its new ploy.

Meanwhile, other markets there shrugged off Japan's weaker yen gains with Hang Seng down slightly, the Shanghai Composite Index down 0.39% and the Australian S&P/ASX flat. Part of the lack of action stems from the upcoming Good Friday holiday as overnight trading in U.S. stocks prove mild.

The big news in China centered on officials there changing their stance on margin buying and easing requirements in hopes of driving up share prices after an already mild upswing in stocks. In currency markets, the yuan was weaker ans as was the euro, the yen and the Australian dollar, all declining against the dollar.