Japan Bourse Tipped To Open In The Green

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has tracked higher in back-to-back sessions, accelerating more than 3.500 points or 5.9 percent in that span. The Nikkei now sits just beneath the 63,640-point plateau and it may extend its gains again on Monday.

Th global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on hopes for an end to the U.S.-Iran war. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Nikkei finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares and automobile producers, while the technology sector was mixed.

For the day, the index rallied 1,654.93 points or 2.68 percent to finish at 63,339.07 after trading between 61,842.56 and 63,432.41. Among the actives, Nissan Motor rose 0.39 percent, while Mazda Motor retreated 1.39 percent, Toyota Motor gathered 0.30 percent, Honda Motor accelerated 1.23 percent, Softbank Group skyrocketed 11.89 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial collected 0.78 percent, Mizuho Financial rallied 2.14 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial shed 0.41 percent, Mitsubishi Electric spiked 3.82 percent, Sony Group sank 0.82 percent, Panasonic Holdings soared 2.51 percent and Hitachi plunged 2.36 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained modestly in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow climbed 294.00 points or 0.58 percent to finish at 50,579.70, while the NASDAQ rose 50.87 points or 0.19 percent to close at 26,343.97 and the S&P 500 added 27.75 points or 0.37 percent to end at 7,473.47.

For the week, the Dow surged 2.1 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 0.9 percent and the NASDAQ increased by 0.5 percent.

The strength on Wall Street came amid persistent optimism about an end to the U.S.-Iran war even as crude oil and gasoline prices remained elevated going into the busy Memorial Day weekend.

In economic news, a report from the University of Michigan showed that consumer sentiment in the U.S. deteriorated much more than previously estimated in the month of May.

Crude oil prices ticked higher on Friday as traders weighed concerns of an impending crude oil inventory shortage against the positive signals from U.S.-Iran peace talks. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was up $0.10 or 0.10 percent at $96.45 per barrel.