Japan Stock Market May Snap Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, dropping more than 700 points or 2 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now sits just beneath the 37,500-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on the outlook for trade. The European and U.S. markets were slightly higher and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The Nikkei finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the technology stocks, support from the automobile producers and a mixed performance from the financial sector.

For the day, the index shed 255.09 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 37,498.63 after trading between 37,445.93 and 37,656.23.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor climbed 1.09 percent, while Mazda Motor advanced 0.90 percent, Toyota Motor accelerated 0.85 percent, Honda Motor rose 0.36 percent, Softbank Group tumbled 1.94 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial collected 1.16 percent, Mizuho Financial shed 0.57 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial perked 0.17 percent, Mitsubishi Electric fell 0.39 percent, Sony Group was up 0.19 percent, Panasonic Holdings lost 0.52 percent and Hitachi sank 0.31 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is slightly positive as the major averages spent most of Monday in the red before a late pushed them up and barely over the unchanged line.

The Dow climbed 137.33 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 42,792.07, while the NASDAQ rose 4.36 points or 0.02 percent to close at 19,215.46 and the S&P 500 perked 5.22 points or 0.09 percent to end at 5,963.60.

The initial weakness on Wall Street came in reaction to news that Moody's has downgraded the U.S. debt rating by a notch to Aa1 from Aaa.

Selling pressure waned over the course of the session, however, as traders seem to remain generally optimistic about the outlook for the markets.

On the U.S. economic front, the Conference Board released a report showing its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators slumped by more than expected in the month of April.

Crude oil prices saw mild upside on Monday after Goldman Sachs raised its outlook for demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery rose $0.17 of 0.27 percent to $62.66 per barrel.