Japan Stock Market May Hand Back Friday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Japan stock market bounced higher again on Friday, one day after ending the three-day winning streak in which it had jumped almost 3,800 points or 5 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 61,140-point plateau although it may fade on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and mostly flat, with a slight downward bias among the technology stocks.

The Nikkei finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the technology, retail and utility sectors, while the financials came in mixed.

For the day, the index gained 322.95 points or 0.53 percent to finish at 61,142.35 after trading between 61,082.23 and 61,902.50.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened mixed but quickly turned lower before staging a midday recovery to finish on oppositive sides of the line.

The Dow added 50.45 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 52,347.55, while the NASDAQ slumped 229.83 points or 0.91 percent to end at 25,136.27 and the S&P 500 sank 30.73 points or 0.40 percent to close at 7,561.67.

For the week, the S&P surged 2.5 percent, the NASDAQ spiked 2.3 percent and the Dow jumped 2.1 percent.

Weakness among technology stocks once again weighed on Wall Street, as reflected by the notable decline by the tech-heavy NASDAQ. Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) showed another significant move to the downside following the resignation of Jensen Huang.

The weakness on Wall Street also came as treasury yields extended a recent surge following the release of the Labor Department's report on producer price inflation in October - which saw the fastest pace of growth since November 2022.

Crude oil prices edged lower on Friday, with the renewal of U.S.-Iran re-escalation concerns offset by the International Energy Agency's forecast of a global crude surplus. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $0.08 or 0.09 percent at $88.66 per barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will release preliminary Q3 figures for gross domestic product later this morning. GDP is expected to rise 0.1 percent on quarter and 0.3 percent on year, slowing from 0.4 percent on quarter and 1.4 percent on year in the three months prior.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened mixed but quickly turned lower before staging a midday recovery to finish on oppositive sides of the line.

The Dow added 50.45 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 52,347.55, while the NASDAQ slumped 229.83 points or 0.91 percent to end at 25,136.27 and the S&P 500 sank 30.73 points or 0.40 percent to close at 7,561.67.

For the week, the S&P surged 2.5 percent, the NASDAQ spiked 2.3 percent and the Dow jumped 2.1 percent.

Weakness among technology stocks once again weighed on Wall Street, as reflected by the notable decline by the tech-heavy NASDAQ. Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) showed another significant move to the downside following the resignation of Jensen Huang.

The weakness on Wall Street also came as treasury yields extended a recent surge following the release of the Labor Department's report on producer price inflation in October - which saw the fastest pace of growth since November 2022.

Crude oil prices edged lower on Friday, with the renewal of U.S.-Iran re-escalation concerns offset by the International Energy Agency's forecast of a global crude surplus. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $0.08 or 0.09 percent at $88.66 per barrel.