Japan Stock Market May Extend Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, sinking almost 400 points or 1 percent in that span. The Nikkei 225 now rests just above the 39,560-point plateau and it may take further damage again on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak, with oil and technology stocks expected to lead the way lower. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit. The Nikkei finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the technology stocks, gains from the automobile producers and a mixed performance from the financial sector. For the day, the index slumped 366.18 points or 0.92 percent to finish at 39,565.80 after trading between 39,520.79 and 40,255.68. Among the actives, Nissan Motor perked 0.26 percent, while Mazda Motor spiked 2.09 percent, Toyota Motor accelerated 1.37 percent, Honda Motor climbed 1.05 percent, Softbank Group plummeted 8.32 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial collected 0.73 percent, Mizuho Financial jumped 1.58 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial rallied 1.55 percent, Mitsubishi Electric slumped 1.22 percent, Sony Group rose 0.31 percent, Panasonic Holdings fell 0.36 percent and Hitachi stumbled 3.82 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is pretty awful as the major averages opened under water on Monday. The Dow managed to climb into positive territory, but the NASDAQ and S&P 500 finished with heavy losses.

The Dow advanced 289.33 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 44,713.58, while the NASDAQ plummeted 612.47 points or 3.07 percent to close at 19,341.83 and the S&P 500 sank 88.96 points or 1.46 percent to end at 6,012.28.

The sell-off On Wall Street came amid substantial weakness among technology stocks, with AI darling and sector leader Nvidia (NVDA) leading the way lower. The plunge by Nvidia comes after Chinese startup DeepSeek's AI Assistant overtook rival ChatGPT to become the top-rated free application available on Apple's App Store in the United States.

Concerns about the outlook for interest rates also weighed on Wall Street ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting this week.

While the Fed is almost universally expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates. Recent economic data has led to concerns about the Fed leaving rates on hold for a prolonged period.

Oil prices fell sharply on Monday amid concerns about tariff threats and uncertainty about U.S. trade policy. Also, weak manufacturing data from China has raised concerns about the outlook for demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March closed down $1.49 or 2 percent at $73.17 a barrel. Closer to home, Japan will see December data for producer prices later this morning. Producer prices are expected to rise 2.1 percent on year, up from 3.0 percent in the previous month.