Japan Shares Tipped To Open Under Water On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Japan stock market on Thursday wrote a finish to the two-day slide in which it had plunged nearly 2,200 points or 4.2 percent. The Nikkei 225 now rests just above the 50,880-point plateau although it's likely to turn lower again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian bourse is negative, with technology and oil shares likely to lead the markets lower. The European and U.S. markets were solidly lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index rallied 671.41 points or 1.34 percent to finish at 50,883.68 after trading between 50,594.19 and 51,248.28. Among the actives, Nissan Motor retreated 1.66 percent, while Mazda Motor climbed 1.03 percent, Toyota Motor accelerated 3.26 percent, Honda Motor fell 0.26 percent, Softbank Group rallied 2.92 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial collected 1.57 percent, Mizuho Financial spiked 2.13 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial soared 3.24 percent, Mitsubishi Electric vaulted 3.16 percent, Sony Group expanded 2.50 percent, Panasonic Holdings improved 0.70 percent and Hitachi surged 4.06 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened in the red on Thursday and spent the entire session under water, finishing near daily lows.

The Dow stumbled 398.70 points or 0.84 percent to finish at 46,912.30, while the NASDAQ plunged 445.80 points or 1.90 percent to close at 23,053.99 and the S&P 500 sank 75.97 points or 1.12 percent to end at 6,720.32.

The sharp pullback on Wall Street came on renewed weakness among artificial intelligence-related stocks, which led the sell-off on Tuesday. Concerns about an AI bubble and the possibility of a near-term correction have recently weighed on investors' minds.

Negative sentiment may also have been generated in reaction to a report from global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showing a sharp increase in layoff announcements in the month of October.

Crude oil prices fell Thursday on oversupply concerns after the American Petroleum Institute revealed that U.S. crude oil inventories increased much more than expected last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $0.21 or 0.35 percent at $59.39 per barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will release September figures for household spending later this morning; in August, spending was up 0.6 percent on month and 2.3 percent on year.