Mild Rebound Suggested For Japan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market on Wednesday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 150 points or 0.4 percent. The Nikkei 225 now rests just above the 39,160-point plateau although it may move back to the upside again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets murky on an uncertain outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were slightly up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Nikkei finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the automobile producers and technology stocks, while the financial shares came in mixed.

For the day, the index sank 105.79 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 39,164.61 after trading between 38,994.70 and 39,298.05.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor tumbled 1.87 percent, while Mazda Motor surrendered 1.89 percent, Toyota Motor retreated 1.73 percent, Honda Motor tanked 2.26 percent, Softbank Group stumbled 1.90 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial shed 0.52 percent, Mizuho Financial collected 0.59 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial rallied 2.05 percent, Mitsubishi Electric lost 0.69 percent, Sony Group dipped 0.24 percent, Panasonic Holdings plunged 2.58 percent and Hitachi advanced 0.81 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday but trended upward throughout the day, finally ending mildly to the upside.

The Dow gained 71.25 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 44,627.59, while the NASDAQ rose 14.99 points or 0.07 percent to close at 20,056.25 and the S&P 500 perked 14.57 points or 0.24 percent to end at 6,144.15.

The rebound also came even though the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting revealed that officials want to see further progress on inflation before they consider resuming lowering interest rates.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said housing starts pulled back by more than expected in January.

Oil futures settled higher Wednesday, extending gains from previous session amid concerns about the outlook for supplies after a recent drone attack by Ukraine on a Russian pumping station. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March rose $0.40 or 0.56 percent at $72.25 a barrel.