Japan Shares May Run Out Of Steam On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Japan stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, advancing more than 1,925 points or 3.3 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 58,750-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with oil and technology stocks likely to weigh. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Nikkei finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers.

For the day, the index added 170.27 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 58,753.39 after trading between 58,577.84 and 59,332.43. Among the actives, Nissan Motor skidded 1.09 percent, while Mazda Motor accelerated 2.41 percent, Toyota Motor vaulted 1.51 percent, Honda Motor improved 0.81 percent, Softbank Group soared 3.99 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial rallied 3.32 percent, Mizuho Financial surged 5.12 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial collected 3.35 percent, Mitsubishi Electric perked 0.17 percent, Sony Group spiked 3.22 percent, Panasonic Holdings sank 0.67 percent and Hitachi skyrocketed 5.49 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed but trended lower throughout the day, finally ending on opposite sides of the line.

The Dow perked 17.05 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 49,499.20, while the NASDAQ tumbled 273.70 points or 1.18 percent to end at 22,878.38 and the S&P 500 lost 37.27 points or 0.54 percent to close at 6,908.86.

The pullback on Wall Street came amid a negative reaction to earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA), even though the company reported better than expected fiscal fourth quarter results and provided upbeat guidance.

Networking stocks also showed a notable move to the downside, contributing to the slump by the tech-heavy NASDAQ.

In economic news, the Labor Department noted a modest increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Crude oil prices saw early strength Thursday on Mideast tensions but couldn't hold the gains after progress was reported in talks between the U.S. and Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery was down by $0.11 or 0.2 percent at $65.31 barrel.

Closer to home, Japan is scheduled to release a batch of data this morning. On tap are January numbers for industrial production, retail sales, housing starts and construction orders, as well as February figures for Tokyo area consumer prices.

Industrial output is expected to climb 5.5 percent on month and easing 0.1 percent in December. Sales are seen higher by an annual 0.1 percent after slumping 0.9 percent in the previous month. Housing starts are tipped to fall 1.9 percent on year after losing 1.3 percent a month earlier. Construction orders rallied 20.2 percent on year in December. In January, overall Tokyo inflation was up 1.5 percent on year and core CPI rose 2.0 percent.