Japan Stocks Expected To Open Under Pressure On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Japan stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had collected almost 750 points or 2 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 37,960-point plateau and it may take further damage again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on continuous tariff concerns, while oil stocks are likely to be weak after OPEC+ announced another production hike over the weekend. The European and U.S. bourses were mostly down and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The Nikkei finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the technology stocks and automobile producers, while the financials came in mixed.

For the day, the index stumbled 467.90 points or 1.22 percent to finish at 37,965.10 after trading between 37,748.17 and 38,114.47.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor tanked 3.12 percent, while Mazda Motor surrendered 3.27 percent, Toyota Motor accelerated 1.26 percent, Honda Motor tumbled 1.87 percent, Softbank Group plunged 3.24 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial climbed 1.02 percent, Mizuho Financial dipped 0.12 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial collected 0.49 percent, Mitsubishi Electric slumped 1.36 percent, Sony Group plummeted 4.03 percent, Panasonic Holdings eased 0.18 percent and Hitachi sank 0.88 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages shook off a sluggish start on Friday, posting a mild recovery midday to finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 54.34 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 42,270.07, while the NASDAQ slipped 62.11 points or 0.32 percent to close at 19,113.77 and the S&P 500 eased 0.48 points or 0.01 percent to end at 5,911.69.

The early selling pressure on Wall Street came after President Donald Trump accused China of violating the trade agreement reached last month.

But bargain hunters fueled the mild recovery later in the day.

In U.S. economic news, a closely watched report release by the Commerce Department showed consumer prices in the U.S. crept slightly higher in April.

Crude suffered a weekly loss of more than 1 percent due to uncertainty over Trump's tariffs and their likely impact on global growth and fuel demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery eased $0.18 or 0.30 percent to $60.76 a barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will on Monday release Q1 figures for capital spending later this morning; in the previous three months, capex was down 0.2 percent on year.