Japan Shares Tipped To Open Under Pressure

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, tumbling almost 1,950 points or 5.5 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now rests just above the 33,780-point plateau and it may take further damage on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on trade war concerns after China announced retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods in reaction to President Donald Trump's new levies. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses are also expected to open under pressure.

The Nikkei finished sharply lower again on Friday with damage across the board, especially among the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers.

For the day, the index plummeted 955.35 points or 2.75 percent to finish at 33,780.58 after trading between 33,259.76 and 34,320.11.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor dropped 5.51 percent, while Mazda Motor sank 5.98 percent, Toyota Motor retreated 4.41 percent, Honda Motor surrendered 5.45 percent, Softbank Group crashed 7.19 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial plummeted 8.48 percent, Mizuho Financial cratered 11.24 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial plunged 8.03 percent, Mitsubishi Electric declined 4.55 percent, Sony Group tumbled 4.76 percent, Panasonic Holdings slumped 4.07 percent and Hitachi stumbled 5.83 percent.

The lead from Wall Street remains brutal as the major averages opened with heavy losses and remained deep in the red throughout the session.

The Dow plummeted 2,231.07 points or 5.50 percent to finish at 38,314.86, while the NASDAQ tumbled 962.82 points or 5.82 percent to close at 15,587.79 and the S&P 500 plunged 322.44 points or 5.97 percent to end at 5,074.08.

The extended nosedive on Wall Street came amid ongoing concerns about a global trade war, triggered by the tariff polices Trump announced last week.

China announced a 34 percent tariff will be imposed on all imported goods from the U.S. as of April 10, while Canada and the European Union are also preparing countermeasures.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in remarks that the tariff increases will be significantly larger than expected and the same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth.

Crude oil prices showed another substantial move to the downside on Friday on continuing concerns about the impact a global trade war will have on fuel demand. West Texas Intermediate for May delivery plunged $4.95 or 7.4 percent to $62 a barrel, a three-year low.

Closer to home, Japan will see preliminary February results for its leading and coincident indexes; in January, the leading index was up 0.4 percent on month, while the coincident was up 0.1 percent.