Japan Stock Market Overdue For Support On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has finished lower in five straight sessions, plunging almost 3,400 points or 5.8 percent in that span. The Nikkei sits just above the 59,800-point plateau although it may finally catch a break on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly positive, thanks to sinking crude oil prices and support from the technology sectors. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher on Wednesday and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The Nikkei finished sharply lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares, automobile producers and technology companies.

For the day, the index tumbled 746.18 points or 1.23 percent to finish at 59,604.41 after trading between 59,292.25 and 60,567.27. Among the actives, Nissan Motor dipped 0.14 percent, while Mazda Motor skidded 1.17 percent, Toyota Motor shed 0.51 percent, Honda Motor perked 0.04 percent, Softbank Group crashed 6.01 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial tumbled 2.51 percent, Mizuho Financial collected 1.39 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial slumped 1.01 percent, Mitsubishi Electric plunged 4.53 percent, Sony Group surrendered 3.06 percent, Panasonic Holdings cratered 4.35 percent and Hitachi sank 0.73 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is strong as the major averages opened slightly higher on Wednesday but accelerated throughout the day, ending at session highs.

The Dow spiked 645.47 points or 1.31 percent to finish at 50,009.35, while the NASDAQ jumped 399.65 points or 1.54 percent to end at 26,270.36 and the S&P 500 climbed79.36 points or 7,432.97.

The rally on Wall Street came on a steep drop by treasuries yields, which pulled back sharply, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note plunging from its highest levels in well over a year.

The sharp drop in crude oil prices also contributed to the rise on Wall Street, thanks to increasing diplomatic measures to secure an agreement to end their hostilities between the United States and Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery was down $5.89 or 5.66 percent at $98.26 per barrel.

Optimism about earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA) may also have generated buying interest, as the chipmaker was due to report its first quarter results after the close of trading.

In fact, Nvidia decisively beat expectations on both the top and bottom lines, likely giving the Asian markets a solid boost.

Closer to home, Japan will release March numbers for core machinery orders and April data for imports, exports and trade balance later today. Machinery orders are expected to sink 7.7 percent on month and rise 4.5 percent on year after surging 13/6 percent on month and 24.7 percent on year in February.

Imports are expected to rise 8.3 percent on year, easing from 10.9 percent in March. Exports are called higher by an annual 9.3 percent, down from 11.5 percent in the previous month. The trade deficit is pegged at 29.7 billion yen following the 643.0 billion yen surplus a month earlier.

Japan also will see May results for the manufacturing, services and composite PMIs from S&P Global; in April, their scores were 55.1, 51.0 and 52.2, respectively.