Japan Shares May Be Stuck In Neutral On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, rallying more than 720 points or 1.9 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 37,500-point plateau although the rally may stall on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is uninspired on waning optimism over trade agreements that might end U.S. tariffs. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Nikkei finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers.

For the day, the index spiked 574.70 points or 1.56 percent to finish at 37,503.33 after trading between 37,219.03 and 37,557.41.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor accelerated 2.38 percent, while Mazda Motor improved 2.22 percent, Toyota Motor jumped 1.80 percent, Honda Motor spiked 2.74 percent, Softbank Group rallied 2.50 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, added 2.22 percent, Mizuho Financial collected 2.69 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial soared 3.91 percent, Mitsubishi Electric advanced 1.28 percent, Sony Group climbed 2.37 percent, Panasonic Holdings gained 2.12 percent and Hitachi increased 1.89 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened higher on Friday but quickly headed south to finish mostly lower.

The Dow slumped 119.07 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 41,249.38, while the NASDAQ rose 0.78 points or 0.00 percent to close at 17,928.92 and the S&P 500 slipped 4.03 points or 0.07 percent to end at 5,659.91.

For the week, the S&P 500 shed 0.5 percent, the NASDAQ fell 0.3 percent and the Dow eased 0.2 percent.

The early strength on Wall Street came amid optimism about a potential U.S.-China trade deal ahead of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's talks with Chinese officials in Switzerland over the weekend.

However, President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social that a higher "80% Tariff on China seems right," partly offsetting the positive sentiment.

Crude oil futures moved sharply higher on Friday, extending gains in the previous session amid optimism about a potential U.S.-China trade deal. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery crude for June delivery jumped $1.11 or 1.9 percent to $61.02 a barrel.

Closer to home, Japan is scheduled to see a few reports on Monday, including current account figures for March and April numbers for bank lending and the Eco Watchers Survey.

The current account is expected to show a surplus of 3.678 trillion yen, down from 4.061 trillion yen in February. Overall bank lending was up 2.8 percent on year in March, while the Eco Watchers Survey had a score of 45.1.