Renewed Consolidation Seen For Japan Shares

(RTTNews) - The Japan stock market on Thursday halted the four-day losing streak in which it had plummeted more than 2,710 points or 5.6 percent. The Nikkei 225 now rests just above the 49,820-point plateau although it may head south again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on a declining outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Nikkei finished sharply higher on Thursday on bargain hunting among the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers.

For the day, the index surged 1,286.24 points or 2.65 percent to finish at 49,823.94 after trading between 49,113.39 and 50,574.82. Among the actives, Nissan Motor accelerated 1.68 percent, while Mazda Motor and Mitsubishi Electric both soared 5.77 percent, Toyota Motor rose 0.23 percent, Honda Motor perked 0.07 percent, Softbank Group jumped 1.89 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial collected 1.99 percent, Mizuho Financial rallied 2.50 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial advanced 0.96 percent, Sony Group spiked 2.98 percent, Panasonic Holdings surged 3.24 percent and Hitachi gained 3.72 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages were unable to hold early gains on Thursday and finished deeply under water.

The Dow stumbled 386.51 points or 0.84 percent to finish at 45,752.26, while the NASDAQ plummeted 486.18 points or 2.15 percent to close at 22,078.05 and the S&P 500 dropped 103.40 points or 1.56 percent to end at 6,538.76.

The early rally on Wall Street was a positive reaction to highly anticipated earnings news from market leader and AI darling Nvidia (NVDA), which reported better than expected third quarter results and providing upbeat guidance - although the stock tumbled later in the day.

The subsequent downturn by the broader markets reflected concerns about the outlook for interest rates after the release of the Labor Department's long-delayed jobs report for September. While the report showed an unexpected uptick by the unemployment rate, job growth in September far exceeded economist estimates.

The mixed data further eroded confidence that the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates by another quarter point in December. While CME Group's FedWatch Tool indicates the chances of a rate cut next month have risen to 39.8 percent from 30.1 percent on Wednesday, that figure is down sharply from 98.8 percent a month ago.

Crude oil prices edged lower on Thursday as investors assessed reports of renewed efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war ahead of the U.S. deadline. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $0.27 or 0.44 percent at $59.18 per barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will release October figures for imports, exports, trade balance and inflation. Imports are expected to slip 0.7 percent on year after rising 3.0 percent in September. Exports are called higher by an annual 1.1 percent, moderating from 4.2 percent in the previous month. The trade deficit is seen at 280 billion yen following the 234.6 billion yen shortfall a month earlier. Also in September, overall inflation was up 0.1 percent on month and 2.9 percent on year, while core CPI rose an annual 2.9 percent.