Rally May Stall For Japan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Japan stock market has climbed higher in three straight sessions, advancing more than 1,050 points or 3 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now sits just beneath the 38,900-point plateau although it's due for consolidation on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, as investors wait to see if there's any slowdown in the Iran/Israel conflict. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index surged 348.41 points or 0.90 percent to finish at the daily high of 38,885.15 after moving as low as 38,364.16.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor jumped 1.75 percent, while Mazda Motor accelerated 2.45 percent, Toyota Motor strengthened 1.22 percent, Honda Motor and Mitsubishi Electric both improved 0.80 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Softbank Group both rose 0.18 percent, Mizuho Financial perked 0.03 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial shed 0.50 percent, Sony Group advanced 0.85 percent, Panasonic Holdings rallied 1.60 percent and Hitachi climbed 1.37 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages spent most of Wednesday's trade in positive territory before turning lower and ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 44.14 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 42,171.66, while the NASDAQ rose 25.18 points or 0.13 percent to close at 19,546.27 and the S&P 500 eased 1.85 points or 0.03 percent to end at 5,980.87.

The lackluster day on Wall Street came after the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged. Fed officials still seem to expect to two interest rate cuts this year, lowering the rate to a range of 4.0 percent to 3.75 percent by the end of 2025.

In economic news, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits edged modestly lower last week. Also, the Commerce Department saw a steep drop by new residential construction in the U.S. in the month of May.

Crude oil price ticked higher on Wednesday as the Israel-Iran conflict, which began with Israeli airstrikes on June 12, entered the sixth straight day with casualties increasing on both sides. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery rose by $0.30 to settle at $75.15 per barrel.