Japan Shares May Extend Thursday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market on Thursday wrote a finish to the four-day losing streak in which it had slumped almost 1,200 points or 2.7 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 44,930-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, with gains from the technology stocks likely offset by weakness from the oil companies. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Nikkei finished modestly higher on Thursday following mixed performances from the financial shares and technology stocks, although the automobile producers were soft.

For the day, the index jumped 385.88 points or 0.87 percent to finish at 44,936.73 after trading between 44,659.22 and 45,125.96. Among the actives, Nissan Motor tanked 2.20 percent, while Mazda Motor tumbled 1.98 percent, Toyota Motor shed 0.58 percent, Honda Motor lost 0.53 percent, Softbank Group surged 5.78 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial stumbled 1.92 percent, Mizuho Financial retreated 1.40 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial skidded 1.04 percent, Mitsubishi Electric sank 0.57 percent, Sony Group plunged 2.44 percent, Panasonic Holdings perked 0.19 percent and Hitachi gained 0.65 percent.

The lead from Wall Street continues to be cautiously optimistic as the major averages recovered from a midday slump on Thursday to finish with mild gains at fresh record highs.

The Dow added 78.62 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 46,519.72, while the NASDAQ gained 88.89 points or 0.39 percent to end at 22,844.05 and the S&P 500 perked 4.15 points or 0.06 percent to close at 6,715.35.

The continued advance by the major averages reflected optimism about the artificial intelligence trade, which contributed to strength among tech stocks, especially Nvidia (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

Meanwhile, traders continued to shrug off concerns about the economic impact of the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, which entered its second day with no signs of an imminent resolution.

Due to the shutdown, the releases of reports on weekly jobless claims and factory orders that were scheduled for this week have been indefinitely postponed.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Thursday on anxiety about the long-term impact of the ongoing U.S. government shutdown, which enters the second day today. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was down $1.23 or 1.99 percent at $60.55 per barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will release jobless numbers for August later this morning. The jobless rate is expected to tick up to 2.4 percent from 2.3 percent in July, while the jobs-to-applicant ratio is seen steady at 1.22. Japan also will see September services PMI data from Jibun, with forecasts suggesting a score of 53.0 - down from 53.1 in August.