Japan Stock Market Expected To Open Under Pressure On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market on Friday halted the four-day winning streak in which it had accelerated more than 1,500 points or 3.8 percent. The Nikkei 225 now rests just above the 39,930-point plateau and it's expected to see continued consolidation on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautious ahead of the FOMC meeting later this week. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The Nikkei finished slightly lower on Friday following losses from the technology and automobile companies, while the financial sector came in mixed.

For the day, the index lost 26.92 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 39,931.98 after trading between 39,806.69 and 40,279.79.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor tanked 2.45 percent, while Mazda Motor retreated 1.67 percent, Toyota Motor declined 1.45 percent, Honda Motor sank 0.83 percent, Softbank Group tumbled 1.81 percent, Mizuho Financial collected 0.58 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial shed 0.58 percent, Mitsubishi Electric rose 0.28 percent, Sony Group surrendered 2.55 percent, Panasonic Holdings slumped 1.49 percent, Hitachi fell 0.27 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened barely higher on Friday but quickly turned lower and spent the balance of the session in the red.

The Dow stumbled 140.85 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 44,424.25, while the NASDAQ sank 99.40 points or 0.50 percent to close at 19,954.30 and the S&P 500 fell 17.47 points or 0.29 percent to end at 6,101.24. For the holiday-shortened week, the Dow surged 2.2 percent and the NASDAQ and S&P 500 both jumped 1.7 percent.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street reflected concerns about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting this week.

Recent economic data has led to concerns about the Fed leaving rates on hold for a prolonged period, but many economists still expect the central bank to resume cutting rates sometime in the first half of the year.

On U.S. economic front, data from the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment unexpectedly deteriorated by more than estimated in January. Also, the National Association of Realtors said existing home sales jumped much more than expected in December

Oil futures were roughly flat on Friday, continuing to look for support after the Energy Information Administration said crude oil inventories in the U.S. fell less than expected last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March settled at $74.66 a barrel to snap a six-day losing streak. WTI crude futures lost 3 percent in the week.

Closer to home, Japan will see November numbers for its leading and coincident indexes later today. The leading index is expected to slip 2.1 percent on month after adding 0.2 percent in October. The coincident is seen lower by 1.5 percent on month after climbing 2.8 percent in the previous month.