Japan Shares May Find Traction On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Tuesday's holiday for Culture Day, the Japan stock market has tracked lower in consecutive trading days, sinking almost 1,600 points or 2.4 percent in that span. The Nikkei now sits just above the 63,080-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on easing oil prices and a rebound among battered technology stocks. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mostly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Nikkei finished modestly lower on Monday as losses from the transportation, services and chip stocks were offset by support from the semiconductors.

For the day, the index lost 208.25 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 63,081.86 after trading between 62,712.91 and 63,615.32.

The lead from Wall Street is a study in contrasts as the NASDAQ and S&P 500 opened higher on Tuesday and stayed that way, while the Dow opened in the red and remained under water throughout the day.

The Dow dropped 197.26 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 51,786.72, while the NASDAQ jumped 207.65 points or 0.83 percent to close at 25,372.01 and the S&P 500 added 27.52 points or 0.36 percent to end at 7,568.92.

The pullback by the Dow reflected a big decline by shares of Apple (AAPL), which slumped 1.9 percent after it posted increased quarterly revenue and profits but forecast slightly below consensus gross margin for the current quarter.

Semiconductor stocks helped lead the tech sector higher, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surging by 2.6 percent after ending the previous session at a six-month closing low.

Computer hardware, software and networking stocks also saw considerable strength following recent weakness.

Crude oil prices turned lower on Tuesday amid rising expectations on a possible settlement between the U.S. and Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $0.52 or 0.54 percent at $95.94 per barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will provide October figures for monetary base later this morning, with forecasts suggesting a decline of 14.0 percent on year following the 15.2 percent decline in September.