Japan Stock Market May Hand Back Thursday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has finished higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day losing streak in which it had plummeted more than 4,600 points or 7 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 66,420-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on tech weakness, surging oil prices and Middle East tensions. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses also figure to open in the red.

The Nikkei finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares and technology stocks.

For the day, the index gained 307.00 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 66,422.60 after trading between 66,208.66 and 67,022.37.

The lead from Wall Street is bleak as the major averages opened sharply lower and stayed that way throughout the trading day.

The Dow tumbled 506.93 points or 0.97 percent to finish at 51,711.65, while the NASDAQ plummeted 553.21 points or 2.15 percent to close at 25,137.69 and the S&P 500 sank 90.66 points or 1.21 percent to end at 7,408.30.

The sell-off on Wall Street reflected a negative reaction to earnings news from tech giants Tesla (TSLA) and Alphabet (GOOGL).

Crude oil prices surged again on Thursday amid concerns of a wider conflict in the Middle East set off by new attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen on two Saudi Arabian tankers in the Red Sea. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was up $5.76 or 6.63 percent at $92.59 per barrel.

The continued spike by the price of crude oil has added to recent concerns about the outlook for inflation and the possibility of higher interest rates.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department said first-time claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly decreased last week.

Closer to home, Japan will release June figures for consumer prices later this morning. In May, overall inflation was up 0.4 percent on month and 1.5 percent on year, while core CPI rose an annual 1.4 percent.

Japan also will see July results for the manufacturing, services and composite PMIs from S&P Global; in June, their scores were 54.8, 52.2 and 52.8, respectively.