Japan Market May Run Out Of Steam On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has tracked higher in back-to-back sessions, advancing more than 400 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 50,750-point plateau although the rally may stall on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets calls for little movement with perhaps a touch of weakness in thin trade between the Christmas and New Year's holidays. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Nikkei finished modestly higher on Friday as gains from the financial shares and technology stocks were capped by weakness from the automobile producers.

For the day, the index added 342.60 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 50,750.39 after trading between 50,527.13 and 50,941.89. Among the actives, Nissan Motor shed 0.47 percent, while Mazda Motor stumbled 2.07 percent, Toyota Motor perked 0.18 percent, Honda Motor retreated 1.22 percent, Softbank Group jumped 1.80 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial was up 0.04 percent, Mizuho Financial lost 0.43 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial rose 0.28 percent, Mitsubishi Electric added 0.69 percent, Sony Group gained 0.15 percent, Panasonic Holdings sank 0.62 percent and Hitachi improved 0.24 percent.

The lead from Wall Street suggests slight consolidation as the major averages hugged the line on Friday and finished very slightly under water.

The Dow shed 29,19 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 48,710.97, while the NASDAQ slipped 20.21 points or 0.09 percent to close at 23,593.10 and the S&P 500 eased 2.11 points or 0.03 percent to end at 6,929.94.

For the week, the S&P 500 shot up 1.4 percent, while the Dow and the NASDAQ both jumped 1.2 percent.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street came as many traders remained away from their desks following the Christmas Day holiday on Thursday, leading to below average trading activity.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves following the recent upward trend, which lifted the Dow and S&P 500 to new record closing highs.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Friday on supply concerns due to the intensifying conflict between the United States and Venezuela. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery was down $1.41 or 2.42 percent at $56.94 per barrel.