Japan Stock Market Tipped To Open In The Green

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has tracked lower in back-to-back sessions, slumping more than 500 points or 1 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now sits just beneath the 50,150-point plateau although it may find traction on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside on optimism over earnings news, although weakness from the technology and oil companies may limit the upside. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly in the green and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The Nikkei finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares and technology stocks, while the automobile producers were mixed.

For the day, the index plummeted 453.98 points or 0.90 percent to finish at 50,148.82 after trading between 49,926.27 and 50,875.98. Among the actives, Nissan Motor added 0.64 percent, while Mazda Motor climbed 1.00 percent, Toyota Motor dipped 0.19 percent, Honda Motor fell 0.22 percent, Softbank Group plummeted 7.69 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial slumped 1.20 percent, Mizuho Financial skidded 1.14 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial shed 0.39 percent, Mitsubishi Electric sank 0.73 percent, Sony Group tumbled 1.96 percent, Panasonic Holdings surged 4.55 percent and Hitachi declined 1.66 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened mixed but trended steadily higher as the day progressed.

The Dow jumped 646.26 points or 1.34 percent to finish at a record 48,704.01, while the NASDAQ dipped 60.30 points or 0.25 percent to close at 23,593.86 and the &P 500 rose 14.32 points or 0.21 percent to end at 6,901.00.

The surge by the Dow reflected a spike by shares of Visa (V) after Bank of American upgraded its rating on the stock to Buy from Neutral. Strong gains by Nike (NKE), UnitedHealth (UNH) and American Express (AXP) also contributed to the jump by the blue chip index.

On the other hand shares of Oracle (ORCL) weighed on the NASDAQ after the company reported fiscal Q2 earnings that beat estimates but on weaker than expected revenues - reflecting renewed valuation concerns.

On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rebounded more than expected last week.

Crude oil prices dropped on Thursday on oversupply concerns even as OPEC prepares to pause output hikes in early 2026. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down $0.88 or 1.51 percent at $57.58 per barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will see revisions to its October industrial production data later today. The data is expected to be unrevised, higher by 1.4 percent on month.