Japan Stock Market May Spin Its Wheels On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market turned lower again on Monday, one session after snapping the two-day slide in which it had given up more than 500 points or 1 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just beneath the 50,170-point plateau and it may tick lower again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower, with weakness from the technology and oil sectors limiting the upside. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Nikkei finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the technology stocks, gains from the automobile producers and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index plunged 668.44 points or 1.31 percent to finish at 50,168.11 after trading between 49,965.68 and 50,432.10. Among the actives, Nissan Motor accelerated 2.62 percent, while Mazda Motor rallied 2.19 percent, Toyota Motor spiked 2.76 percent, Honda Motor added 0.59 percent, Softbank Group plunged 5.95 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial collected 2.36 percent, Mizuho Financial vaulted 2.29 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial jumped 2.35 percent, Mitsubishi Electric rose 0.31 percent, Sony Group skidded 1.00 percent, Panasonic Holdings dropped 0.97 percent and Hitachi tumbled 1.92 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened slightly higher on Monday but quickly slipped under water and spent the balance of the day hugging the line from below.

The Dow slumped 41.49 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 48,416.56, while the NASDAQ dropped 137.76 points or 0.59 percent to end at 23,057.41 and the S&P 500 sank 10.90 points or 0.16 percent to close at 6,816.51.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came on continued uncertainty about AI spending and the possibility of a tech bubble.

Traders were also reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of some key U.S. economic data in the coming days, including retail sales and inflation.

The data could impact the outlook for interest rates following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement last Wednesday. While the Fed cut rates by another quarter point, as widely expected, officials' projections showed significant differences of opinion about further rate cuts.

The price of crude oil retreated on Monday as lingering oversupply concerns offset worries about potential supply disruptions. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down $0.62 or 1.1 percent to $56.82 per barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will see December results for the manufacturing, services and composite PMIs from Jibun Bank. In November, the manufacturing index had a score of 48.7, while the services index was at 53.2 and the composite was at 52.0.