Continued Consolidation Called For Japan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market on Tuesday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 400 points or 0.8 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 50,525-point plateau and the losses may accelerate on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with profit taking expected ahead of the end of the year. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Nikkei finished modestly lower on Monday as losses from the technology stocks were mitigated by support from the financial shares and automobile producers.

For the day, the index sank 223.47 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 50,526.92 after trading between 50,347.65 and 50,707.23. Among the actives, Nissan Motor climbed 1.15 percent, while Mazda Motor advanced 0.87 percent, Toyota Motor shed 0.47 percent, Honda Motor perked 0.03 percent, Softbank Group collected 0.79 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial added 0.44 percent, Mizuho Financial improved 0.71 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial rose 0.39 percent, Mitsubishi Electric fell 0.39 percent, Sony Group lost 0.40 percent, Panasonic Holdings stumbled 2.53 percent and Hitachi sank 0.86 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened under water on Monday and stayed that way throughout the trading day.

The Dow dropped 249.04 points or 0.49 percent to finish at 48,461.93, while the NASDAQ sank 118.75 points or 0.50 percent to and at 23,474.35 and the S&P 500 shed 24.20 points or 0.35 percent to close at 6,905.74.

The pullback on Wall Street reflected profit taking, as some traders looked to cash in on recent gains going into the end of the year.

A pullback by big-name tech companies also weighed on the markets, with Nvidia (NVDA) and Oracle (ORCL) showing notable moves to the downside.

In U.S. economic news, the National Association of Realtors said pending home sales in the U.S. shot up much more than expected in November.

Crude oil prices surged on Monday, with Russia-Ukraine attacks continuing, the U.S.-Venezuela conflict escalating, and fresh conflicts brewing in the Middle East - all increasing supply concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery was up $1.25 or 2.20 percent at $57.99 per barrel.