Japan Stock Market May Turn Lower Again

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market bounced higher again on Monday, one session after ending the four-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 1,200 points or 3.2 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 39,160-point plateau although it may hand back those gains on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on weakness from the technology stocks and ahead of key U.S. inflation data later in the week. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Nikkei 225 finished slightly higher on Monday following gains from the financial shares and automobile producers, while the technology stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index gained 69.33 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 39,160.50 after trading between 38,972.78 and 39,332.55.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor eased 0.03 percent, while Mazda Motor jumped 1.80 percent, Toyota Motor added 0.63 percent, Honda Motor climbed 1.05 percent, SoftBank Group spiked 1.99 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial rose 0.25 percent, Mizuho Financial collected 0.26 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial improved 1.17 percent, Mitsubishi Electric tumbled 1.65 percent, Sony Group rallied 1.97 percent, Hitachi dipped 0.20 percent and Panasonic was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened mixed on Monday but quickly fell into the red and stayed that way for the balance of the session.

The Dow dropped 240.59 points or 0.54 percent to finish at 44,401.93, while the NASDAQ slumped 123.0.8 points or 0.62 percent to end at 19,736.69 and the S&P 500 sank 37.42 points or 0.61 percent to close at 6,052.85.

A slump by shares of Nvidia (NVDA) weighed on the markets, with the AI darling tumbling by 2.6 percent amid news a Chinese regulator has launched an investigation into whether the chipmaker violated antimonopoly laws.

The weakness on Wall Street also came as traders looked ahead to the release of closely watched U.S. inflation data later in the week.

While the Federal Reserve is widely expected to lower rates by another 25 basis points next week, there is some uncertainty about whether the central bank will continue cutting rates next year.

Oil prices climbed higher on geopolitical tensions and optimism that the Chinese central bank will loosen its monetary policy to boost economic growth. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January closed up $1.17 or 1.74 percent at $68.37 a barrel.