Japan Shares Due For Profit Taking On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Japan stock market bounced higher again on Friday, one day after snapping the six-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 3,000 points or 7.3 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just beneath the 43,380-point plateau although investors are likely to lock in gains on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amid a cloudy outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index rallied 729.05 points or 1.71 percent to finish at 43,378.31 after trading between 42,736.86 and 43,405.43.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor accelerated 3.28 percent, while Mazda Motor jumped 2.11 percent, Toyota Motor strengthened 1.75 percent, Honda Motor added 0.86 percent, Softbank Group soared 6.41 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial surged 6.01 percent, Mizuho Financial collected 4.69 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial spiked 4.66 percent, Mitsubishi Electric shed 0.52 percent, Sony Group advanced 5.45 percent, Panasonic Holdings fell 0.33 percent and Hitachi climbed 1.79 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed on Friday and stayed that way throughout the session, ending on opposite sides of the unchanged line.

The Dow added 34.82 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 44,946.12, while the NASDAQ sank 87.72 points or 0.40 percent to close at 21,622.98 and the S&P 500 fell 18.74 points or 0.29 percent to end at 6,449.80. For the week, the NASDAQ added 0.8 percent, the S&P gained 0.9 percent and the Dow jumped 1.7 percent.

The weakness in the broader markets followed the release of mixed batch of U.S. economic data, which has led to some uncertainty about the outlook for the economy and interest rates.

While the Commerce Department said retail sales increased in line with estimates in July, the University of Michigan noted an unexpected deterioration in consumer sentiment in August.

On the inflation front, year-ahead inflation expectations jumped to 4.9 percent in August from 4.5 in July, while the Labor Department said import prices increased more than expected last month and the Federal Reserve saw a slight pullback by industrial production in July.

Crude oil traded lower on Friday ahead of the meeting between the presidents of the U.S. and Russia, which ultimately accomplished nothing. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $1.20 or 1.88 percent at $62.76 per barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will see June data for its tertiary industry activity index later today; in May, the reading was -1.10.