Japan Bourse May Hand Back Wednesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market rebounded on Wednesday, one day after snapping the three-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 1,700 points or 3.9 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just beneath the 43,840-point plateau although it may head south again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets offers little guidance ahead of key U.S. inflation data later today. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to lower and the Asian bourses re likely to follow that lead.

The Nikkei finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financials, weakness from the automobile companies and a mixed picture from the technology stocks.

For the day, the index advanced 378.38 points or 0.87 percent to finish at 43,837.67 after trading between 43,509.02 and 43,848.77. Among the actives, Nissan Motor shed 0.59 percent, while Mazda Motor plunged 3.41 percent, Toyota Motor slumped 1.20 percent, Honda Motor tumbled 1.86 percent, Softbank Group skyrocketed 7.28 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial rallied 2.83 percent, Mizuho Financial jumped 1.93 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial collected 2.26 percent, Mitsubishi Electric fell 0.43 percent, Sony Group strengthened 1.40 percent, Panasonic Holdings shed 0.33 percent and Hitachi soared 3.60 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday and trended generally downward before finishing on opposite sides of the line.

The Dow stumbled 220.42 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 45,490.92, while the NASDAQ rose 6.57 points or 0.03 percent to close at 21,886.06 and the S&P 500 added 19.43 points or 0.30 percent to end at 6,532.04.

The early strength on Wall Street followed the release of a Labor Department report showing a modest decrease in U.S. producer prices in August. The data added to recent optimism about the Federal Reserve lowering interest rates by at next week's monetary policy meeting.

Buying waned over the course of the session, however, as traders looked ahead to the release of the Labor Department's report on consumer price inflation later today - which may also have a significant effect on the outlook for interest rates.

Crude oil surged on Wednesday on geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and Europe, along with inflation data from the U.S. that has reinforced interest rate cut expectations. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $1.07 or 1.71 percent at $63.70 per barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will release August figures for producer prices later this morning. Producer prices are expected to slip 0.1 percent on month and rise 2.7 percent on year after adding 0.2 percent on month and 2.6 percent on year in July.