Japan Shares May Run Out Of Steam On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Japan stock market has finished higher in three straight sessions, improving more than 950 points or 1.8 percent along the way. The Nikkei finished just shy of the 53,430-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement as the world waits for developments in the Middle East. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Nikkei finished barely higher on Tuesday following gains from the technology stocks and mixed performances from the financial shares and automobile producers.

For the day, the index perked 15.88 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 53,429.56 after trading between 53,156.94 and 53,916.35. Among the actives, Nissan Motor sank 0.82 percent, while Mazda Motor perked 0.19 percent, Toyota Motor was up 0.15 percent, Honda Motor crashed 6.48 percent, Softbank Group tumbled 2.28 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial collected 0.68 percent, Mizuho Financial advanced 0.99 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial improved 0.73 percent, Mitsubishi Electric vaulted 1.62 percent, Sony Group added 0.58 percent, Panasonic Holdings jumped 1.78 percent and Hitachi climbed 0.95 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity s the major averages spent most of Tuesday well under water before a late push saw them end mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 85.42 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 46,584.46, while the NASDAQ rose 21.51 points or 0.10 percent to close at 22,017.85 and the S&P 500 perked 5.02 points or 0.08 percent to end at 6,616.85.

Stocks showed a notable move to the upside late in the trading day after Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called on President Donald Trump to extend his deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by two weeks to "allow diplomacy to run its course."

Trump had earlier threatened to attack Iran's power plants and bridges if Tehran fails to reach a deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz by 8 pm ET.

Crude oil prices have inched higher on Tuesday as Iran remains unresponsive to U.S. threats to open up the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was up $0.65 or 0.58 percent at $113.06 per barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will see February figures for its current account later this morning; in January, the current account surplus was 942 billion yen.