Japan's equities continued to advance on Tuesday as speculation that the ECB and Fed will ease their monetary policies lifted stock prices. However, dismal news from the Eurozone and disappointing Japan's household spending data capped the upswing. Nikkei 225 Index closed 0.69% higher at 8,695.06. Technology stocks were the strongest in the index, climbing 3.01%. Canon soared 5.83%, ending its slump on recent profit-outlook cut. Panasonic strengthened 4.6% as market participants expected the firm to report inspiring quarterly results. Indeed, after the bell, Panasonic announced almost seven-fold increase in operating profit for Q1. Meanwhile, Mitsubishi Electric added 3.3% on better than expected Q2 results.