Japan Stock Market May Halt Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, retreating more than 675 points or 1.4 percent in that span. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 48,640-point plateau although it may find traction on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, with oil and technology stocks expected to lead the markets higher. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Nikkei finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers.

For the day, the index stumbled 666.18 points or 1.35 percent to finish at 48,641.61 after trading between 48,399.05 and 48,866.58. Among the actives, Nissan Motor eased 0.03 percent, while Mazda Motor dipped 0.09 percent, Toyota Motor shed 0.42 percent, Honda Motor retreated 1.48 percent, Softbank Group plunged 4.66 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial sank 0.81 percent, Mizuho Financial dropped 0.86 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial skidded 1.17 percent, Mitsubishi Electric added 0.51 percent, Sony Group fell 0.25 percent, Panasonic Holdings slumped 0.87 percent and Hitachi lost 0.92 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened slightly higher and trended generally to the upside throughout the session.

The Dow climbed 144.20 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 46,734.61, while the NASDAQ jumped 201.40 point or 0.89 percent to close at 22,941.80 and the S&P 500 added 39.04 points or 0.58 percent to end at 6,738.44.

The slow start on Wall Street followed mixed corporate earnings news as companies like Tesla (TSLA) and IBM Corp. (IBM) disappointed but Honeywell (HON) beat the street.

Crude oil surged on Thursday, extending gains from the past two sessions, as the U.S. imposed sanctions against Russian oil majors. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $3.22 or 5.50 percent at $61.72 per barrel.

Reflecting the strength in the energy sector, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index spiked 4.8 percent and the NYSE Arca Oil Index jumped 3.0 percent.

Substantial strength was also visible among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 4.0 percent surge by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index. Networking, semiconductor and steel stocks also saw considerable strength, while transportation stocks moved to the downside.

Closer to home, Japan will release September figures for consumer prices later this morning; in August, overall inflation was up 0.1 percent on month and 2.7 percent on year, while core CPI also rose an annual 2.7 percent.

Japan also will see October results for the manufacturing and services PMIs from Jibun Bank; in September, their scores were 48.5 and 53.3, respectively.