Japan Stock Market May Challenge 40,000-point Level

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market on Thursday ended the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 720 points or 1.8 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just shy of the 39,800-point plateau and it may extend its gains on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive thanks to better than expected U.S. employment data. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The Nikkei finished slightly higher on Thursday following gains from the automobile producers, weakness from the technology stocks and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index rose 23.42 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 39,785.90 after trading between 39,667.82 and 39,865.89.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor accelerated 5.69 percent, while Mazda Motor soared 4.61 percent, Toyota Motor jumped 1.87 percent, Honda Motor spiked 1.97 percent, Softbank Group sank 0.70 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial collected 0.66 percent, Mizuho Financial rose 0.30 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial climbed 1.13 percent, Mitsubishi Electric dropped 0.81 percent, Sony Group shed 0.52 percent, Panasonic Holdings slumped 0.82 percent and Hitachi tumbled 1.69 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and remained in the green throughout the shortened session ahead of the July 4 holiday.

The Dow rallied 344.11 points or 0.77 percent to finish at 44,828.53, while the NASDAQ jumped 207.97 points or 1.02 percent to close at 20,601.10 and the S&P 500 gained 51.93 points or 0.83 percent to end at 6,279.35.

The continued strength on Wall Street followed the release of the Labor Department report showing U.S. employment increased more than expected in June. The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment shot up by 147,000 jobs in June after jumping by an upwardly revised 144,000 jobs in May.

Traders reacted positively to the data even though the stronger than expected job growth is likely to reduce the chances of a near-term interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.

Crude oil settled lower on Thursday as excess U.S. inventories and an upcoming OPEC+ meeting triggered supply side concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery closed down by $0.45, to settle at $67 per barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will on Friday release May figures for household spending later this morning. Spending is expected to rise 0.4 percent on month and 1.3 percent on year after slipping 1.8 percent on month and 0.1 percent on year in April.