Japan Shares May See Traction On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, shedding almost 170 points or 0.4 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now rests just above the 37,675-point plateau although it's looking at a steady start on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat thanks to ongoing tariff concerns. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were barely higher, and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Nikkei finished slightly lower on Friday as losses from the automobile producers were offset by support from the financial shares and technology stocks.

For the day, the index slipped 74.82 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 37,677.06 after trading between 37,619.37 and 37,968.02.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor retreated 1.40 percent, while Mazda Motor declined 1.38 percent, Toyota Motor tumbled 1.64 percent, Honda Motor sank 0.82 percent, Softbank Group jumped 1.96 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial surged 5.72 percent, Mizuho Financial rallied 3.09 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial spiked 3.69 percent, Mitsubishi Electric stumbled 3.08 percent, Sony Group soared 2,72 percent, Panasonic Holdings rose 0.35 percent and Hitachi advanced 0.91 percent.

The lead from Wall Street ends up slightly positive as the major averages spent almost all of Friday in the red before peeking into the green just before the close.

The Dow added 32.05 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 41,985.35, while the NASDAQ gained 92.45 points or 0.52 percent to close at 17,784.05 and the S&P 500 perked 4.67 points or 0.08 percent to end at 5,667.56.

For the week, the Dow jumped 1.2 percent, while the S&P and the NASDAQ both ended four-week losing streaks, rising by 0.5 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.

The early weakness on Wall Street came amid ongoing concerns about the economic outlook along with rising geopolitical tensions and uncertainty about the impact of President Donald Trump's tariffs.

Crude oil prices bounced higher on Friday on geopolitical tensions after new U.S. sanctions against a Chinese refinery that purchased Iranian oil. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery climbed $0.23 or 0.3 percent to $68.30 a barrel.