Lower Open Anticipated For Japan Shares

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market rebounded on Thursday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 680 points or 2 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 34,375-point plateau, although it's likely to head south again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft amid lingering uncertainty about U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs. The European and U.S. markets finished mostly lower and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Nikkei finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers.

For the day, the index rallied 457.20 points or 1.35 percent to finish at 34,377.60 after trading between 33,931.53 and 34,379.13.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor dipped 0.16 percent, while Mazda Motor accelerated 2.72 percent, Toyota Motor eased 0.02 percent, Honda Motor jumped 1.88 percent, Softbank Group climbed 1.11 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial rallied 2.31 percent, Mizuho Financial soared 3.31 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial collected 2.29 percent, Mitsubishi Electric spiked 2.85 percent, Sony Group advanced 2.93 percent, Panasonic Holdings strengthened 1.45 percent and Hitachi surged 3.13 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed on Thursday and finished largely the same way, with a downside bias.

The Doe slumped 527.16 points or 1.33 percent to finish at 39,142.23, while the NASDAQ dipped 20.71 points or 0.13 percent to close at 16,286.45 and the S&P 500 rose 7.00 points or 0.13 percent to end at 5,282.70.

The markets are closed for Good Friday; for the holiday-shortened week, the S&P retreated 1.5 percent, the NASDAQ stumbled 2.6 percent and the Dow declined 2.7 percent.

The steep drop by the Dow reflected a nosedive by shares of UnitedHealth (UNH), which plummeted 22.4 percent after the company reported weaker than expected first quarter earnings and cut its full-year profit forecast.

In economic news, the Labor Department noted a modest decrease by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week. Also, the Commerce Department said new residential construction in the U.S. pulled back much more than expected in March.

Crude oil futures moved sharply higher on Thursday amid ongoing concerns about sanctions on Iranian oil exports. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery spiked $2.21 or 3.5 percent to $64.68 a barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will release March figures for national consumer prices later this morning. In February, overall inflation was down 0.1 percent on month and up 3.7 percent on year, while core CPI rose an annual 3.0 percent.