Losing Streak May Continue For Japan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Japan stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, slumping almost 3,200 points or 4.2 percent in that span. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 69,170-point plateau and it may take further damage again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is slightly soft, with selling pressure among the technology stocks likely to tip the markets into the red. The European and U.S. bourses were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The Nikkei finished modestly lower on Wednesday as the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers ended mostly in the red.

For the day, the index dropped 613.41 points or 0.88 percent to finish at 69,174.97 after trading between 68,461.10 and 70,218.71.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor retreated 1.34 percent, while Mazda Motor rose 0.33 percent, Toyota Motor sank 0.74 percent, Honda Motor shed 0.43 percent, Softbank Group collected 1.29 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial tumbled 1.90 percent, Mizuho Financial slumped 1.25 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial retreated 1.58 percent, Mitsubishi Electric tanked 2.00 percent, Sony Group rallied 2.88 percent, Panasonic Holdings surged 5.30 percent and Hitachi dropped 1.24 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday but couldn't hold the gains, finally finishing mixed.

The Dow climbed 182.06 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 51,848.90, while the NASDAQ slumped 110.40 points or 0.43 percent to close at 25,476.63 and the S&P 500 slipped 7.24 points or 0.10 percent to end at 7,358.22.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street, and especially the tech-heavy NASDAQ, was the result of renewed selling among semiconductor stocks over artificial intelligence infrastructure concerns.

The early strength came despite some uncertainty surrounding the US-Iran peace deal amid disagreements between the two nations over a few key terms of the pact.

A slide in crude oil prices also spurred the markets higher as West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery tumbled $2.87 or 3.92 percent to $70.34 per barrel as shipping traffic picks up across the Strait of Hormuz.

In economic news, data from the Commerce Department showed sales of new single-family homes in the US tumbled 7.3 percent month-over-month in May to the lowest annualized rate of 580,000, following an upwardly revised 626,000 in April.

Closer to home, Japan will see April results for its leading and coincident indexes later today. The leading index is expected to add 0.5 percent on month, down from 0.8 percent in March. The coincident is tipped to rise 1.1 percent, up from 0.2 percent in the previous month.