Japan Stock Market May Find Traction On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, tumbling almost 3,700 points or 7 percent in that span. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 51,500-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat as tensions in the Middle East take a slight breather. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead. The Nikkei finished sharply lower on Monday following losses among the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers. For the day, the index plunged 1,857.04 points or 3.48 percent to finish at 51,515.49 after trading between 50,688.76 and 52,479.81. Among the actives, Nissan Motor tumbled 5.02 percent, while Mazda Motor dropped 2.57 percent, Toyota Motor sank 2.23 percent, Honda Motor shed 1.38 percent, Softbank Group retreated 1.43 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial tanked 4.52 percent, Mizuho Financial declined 3.59 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial contracted 2.85 percent, Mitsubishi Electric plunged 6.18 percent, Sony Group skidded 2.42 percent, Panasonic Holdings crashed 3.65 percent and Hitachi fell 1.01 percent. The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Monday and remained firmly in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow surged 631.00 points or 1.38 percent to finish at 46,208.47, while the NASDAQ spiked 299.15 points or 1.38 percent to close at 21,946.76 and the S&P 500 rallied 74.52 points or 1.15 percent to end at 6,581.00.

The early rally on Wall Street came reaction to President Donald Trump backing down from his threats to "obliterate" Iran's power plants unless they fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

However, buying interest waned somewhat as the day progressed, as Iran's state-run media said the country's foreign ministry has denied negotiating with the U.S.

Crude oil prices plummeted on Monday after Trump's announcement that he ordered the U.S. forces to pause any planned attacks against Iran's power plants and energy infrastructure. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was down $10.21 or 10.39 percent at $88.02 per barrel. Closer to home, Japan will on Tuesday release February figures for consumer prices; in January, overall inflation was down 0.2 percent on month and up 1.5 percent, while core CPI rose an annual 2.0 percent. Japan also will see preliminary March results for its manufacturing and services PMIs from Jibun; in February, their scores were 53.0 and 53.8, respectively.