Japan Stock Market May Extend Thursday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market on Thursday snapped the two-day slide in which it had plummeted almost 3,500 points or 6 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 61,860-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on bargain hunting and easing oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The Nikkei finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the financials and properties, while the bettered technology stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index improved 433.24 points or 0.71 percent to finish at 61,867.43 after trading between 61,049.70 and 62,924.84.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and continued to track higher throughout the day, sending at session highs.

The Dow jumped 613.92 points or 1.19 percent to finish at 52,208.06, while the NASDAQ rallied 679.24 points or 2.78 percent to end at 25,122.18 and the S&P 500 climbed 121.48 points or 1.66 percent to close at 7,437.63.

Bargain hunting contributed to the strength among tech stocks after the NASDAQ plunged to a three-month closing low on Wednesday. The Dow and the S&P 500 also ended the session at their lowest closing levels in well over a month.

Microsoft (MSFT) led the tech rally on strong earnings, while semiconductors, airlines and gold stocks also lent support.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department said that consumer prices edged down in line with estimates in June, while the annual rate of growth also slowed as expected.

Crude oil prices slipped on Thursday as ongoing talks between Iran and Oman over the Strait of Hormuz management induced positivity on the resumption of the free flow of gulf oil. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $0.65 or 0.77 percent at $83.81 per barrel.

Closer to home, the Bank of Japan will wrap up its monetary policy meeting this morning and then announce its decision on interest rates; the BoJ is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate steady at 1.00 percent.

Japan will also see a raft of other data, including June figures for unemployment, industrial production, retail sales, construction orders and housing starts, plus July numbers for Tokyo inflation.

The jobless rate (2.5 percent) and the jobs-to-application rate (1.17) are called unchanged. Industrial production is seen higher by 0.7 percent on month, up from 0.1 percent in May. Sales are called higher by an annual 3.1 percent, easing from 5.3 percent a month earlier.

Construction orders are expected to fall 4.1 percent on year after slumping 6.7 percent in the previous month. Housing Starts are tipped to climb an annual 13.2 percent, down from 33.9 percent in May. Tokyo overall inflation was up 1.7 percent on year in June and core CPI rose 1.6 percent.