Little Movement Anticipated For Japan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market turned lower again on Wednesday, one day after ending the two-day slide in which it had tumbled more than 970 points or 2.5 percent. The Nikkei 225 now rests just above the 39,980-point plateau and it's likely to hold steady in that neighborhood on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat and directionless on conflicting leads over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets are expected to follow suit.

The Nikkei finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the technology stocks, gains from the financials and a mixed picture from the automobile producers.

For the day, the index sank 102.24 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 39,981.06 after trading between 39,705.81 and 40,105.72.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor stumbled 2.54 percent, while Mazda Motor improved 0.78 percent, Toyota Motor added 0.68 percent, Honda Motor shed 0.59 percent, Softbank Group rose 0.28 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial perked 0.03 percent, Mizuho Financial collected 0.98 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial gained 0.52 percent, Mitsubishi Electric shed 0.64 percent, Sony Group retreated 1.53 percent, Panasonic Holdings slipped 0.25 percent and Hitachi tumbled 1.81 percent.

The lead from Wall Street suggests little movement as the major averages opened slightly lower on Wednesday, bounced back and forth across the line all day before ending mixed and largely unchanged.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came amid uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates following the release of mixed U.S. jobs data.

While payroll processor ADP released a report showing private sector job growth slowed more than expected in December, the Labor Department said weekly jobless claims unexpectedly fell to their lowest level in almost 11 months.

While the Federal Reserve released the minutes of its latest monetary policy meeting later in the day, they did not provide much insight into the outlook for interest rates other than to suggest officials plan to take a "careful approach" to future decisions.

Oil futures closed lower on Wednesday as a sharp increase in gasoline stockpiles and a stronger dollar weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended lower by $0.93 or 1.25 percent at $73.32 a barrel.