Win Streak May End For Japan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has tracked higher in back-to-back sessions, advancing more than 270 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 39,360-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative, with weakness expected from the computer, semiconductor and housing sectors. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The Nikkei 225 finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the automobile companies, weakness from the financials and a mixed picture from the technology shares.

For the day, the index improved 207.08 points or 0.53 percent to finish at 39,367.58 after trading between 39,171.69 and 39,465.14.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor fell 0.38 percent, while Mazda Motor perked 0.15 percent, Toyota Motor strengthened 1.29 percent, Honda Motor climbed 1.12 percent, Softbank Group added 0.42 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial shed 0.44 percent, Mizuho Financial slid 0.31 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial lost 0.37 percent, Mitsubishi Electric advanced 0.81 percent, Sony Group soared 4.12 percent, Panasonic Holdings rallied 1.41 percent and Hitachi tumbled 1.73 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened flat on Tuesday and hugged the line for most of the session before sinking firmly into the red late in the day.

The Dow dropped 154.10 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 44,247.83, while the NASDAQ sank 49.45 points or 0.25 percent to close at 19,687.24 and the S&P 500 fell 17.94 points or 0.30 percent to end at 6,034.91.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came as traders continued to cash in on recent strength in the markets ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched report on consumer price inflation later today.

While the Federal Reserve is widely expected to lower rates by another 25 basis points next week, the data could impact the outlook for future rate cuts by the central bank.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 86.1 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point next week but a 69.1 percent chance the central bank will then leave rates unchanged in late January.

Oil futures settled higher on Tuesday amid hopes that demand from China will increase following recent stimulus measures announced by the Chinese government. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January closed up $0.22 or 0.32 percent at $68.59 a barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will release November numbers for producer prices later this morning. Producer prices are expected to be unchanged from the October reading, up 0.2 percent on month and 3.4 percent on year.