Japan Stock Market Due For Profit Taking

(RTTNews) - The Japan stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, collecting almost 1,250 points or 3.3 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 40,280-point plateau, although investors are likely to cash in on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower in this holiday-shortened week, with technology stocks likely to be a key drag. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index surged 713.06 points or 1.80 percent to finish at 40,281.16 after trading between 39,669.39 and 40,398.23.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor plunged 7.82 percent, while Mazda Motor rose 0.28 percent, Toyota Motor accelerated 1.46 percent, Honda Motor rallied 2.07 percent, Softbank Group strengthened 1.59 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial climbed 1.19 percent, Mizuho Financial improved 0.78 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial collected 0.67 percent, Mitsubishi Electric advanced 0.82 percent, Sony Group spiked 2.00 percent, Panasonic Holdings increased 0.80 percent and Hitachi gained 1.16 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower and remained that way throughout the trading day, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 333.59 point or 0.77 percent to finish at 42,992.21, while the NASDAQ slumped 298.37 points or 1.49 percent to close at 19.722.03 and the S&P 500 sank 66.75 points or 1.11 percent to end at 5,970.84.

For the week, the Dow picked up 1.4 percent, while the NASDAQ and the S&P both advanced 1.5 percent.

The numbers may have been a bit skewed by light volume, with many investors away from their desks on holiday between Christmas and New Year's.

On the economic front, data showed that U.S. retail inventories, excluding autos, increased by 0.6 percent on month in November, following an upwardly revised 0.3 percent rise in the prior month, according to preliminary estimates.

Oil prices climbed higher on Friday after data showed a sharp drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, while the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine also supported prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled at $70.60 a barrel, gaining about 1.4 percent.

Closer to home, Japan will see December results for the manufacturing PMI from Jibun Bank later this morning, with forecasts suggesting a reading of 49.5 - up from 49.0 in November.