Mild Rebound Seen For Japan Stock Markets

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market on Friday halted the four-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 1,200 points or 3.2 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just shy of the 39,100-point plateau although it may tick higher on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to higher on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and fairly flat on Friday and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The Nikkei 225 finished modestly lower on Friday as gains from the financials and technology stocks were mitigated by support from the automobile producers.

For the day, the index stumbled 304.43 points or 0.77 percent to finish at 39,091.17 after trading between 38,940.44 and 39,468.47.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor accelerated 2.65 percent, while Mazda Motor jumped 1.54 percent, Toyota Motor dipped 0.11 percent, Honda rose 0.23 percent, SoftBank Group shed 0.51 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial lost 0.55 percent, Mizuho Financial fell 0.26 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial sank 0.66 percent, Mitsubishi Electric dropped 0.64 percent, Sony Group slumped 0.73 percent, Panasonic improved 0.58 percent and Hitachi tumbled 1.44 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is inconsistent as the major averages opened higher on Friday, although the Dow was unable to hold its gains and the markets ended mixed.

The Dow slumped 123.18 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 44,642.52, while the NASDAQ rallied 159.07 points or 0.81 percent to close at 19,859.77 and the S&P 500 slipped 15.16 points or 0.25 percent to end at 6,090.27.

The Dow continued to clump amid a continued decline by shares of UnitedHealth (UNH) after that company's CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down last week.

But the NASDAQ and the S&P continued to benefit from a positive reaction to Friday's closely watched Labor Department report showing employment in the U.S. surged more than expected in November.

However, the report said the unemployment rate crept up to 4.2 percent in November from 4.1 percent in October, increasing confidence the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates by another 25 basis points later this month.

Oil prices fell on Friday, weighed down by prospects of excess supply in the market. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January shed $1.10 or 1.61 percent at $67.20 a barrel. WTI crude futures fell nearly 1 percent in the week.

Closer to home, Japan will on Monday release Q3 figures for gross domestic product later this morning. GDP is seen steady from the three months prior, up 0.2 percent on quarter and 0.9 percent on year. Capex is also called steady at -0.2 percent on quarter.