Japan Stock Market May End Losing Streak On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has finished lower in four straight sessions, stumbling more than 1,600 points or 4.2 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now rests just beneath the 38,475-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky on conflicting signals about the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The Nikkei finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial hares, technology stocks and automobile producers.

For the day, the index tumbled 716.10 points or 1.83 percent to finish at 38,474.30 after trading between 38,305.91 and 39,054.35.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor stumbled 2.98 percent, while Mazda Motor rose 0.24 percent, Toyota Motor sank 0.84 percent, Honda Motor surrendered 3.24 percent, Softbank Group tanked 2.64 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial tumbled 2.31 percent, Mizuho Financial skidded 1.08 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial slumped 1.12 percent, Mitsubishi Electric fell 0.43 percent, Sony Group sank 2.47 percent, Panasonic Holdings dropped 1.05 percent and Hitachi retreated 1.86 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened higher on Tuesday but quickly faded and then hugged the line before ending mixed.

The Dow advanced 221.16 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 42,518.28, while the NASDAQ slumped 43.71 points or 0.23 percent to close at 19.044.39 and the S&P 500 rose 6.69 points or 0.11 percent to end at 5,842.91.

The initial strength on Wall Street came following the release of a Labor Department report showing producer prices rose by slightly less than expected in the month of December.

The smaller than expected monthly increase by producer prices helped ease recent concerns about the outlook for inflation and interest rates, although the faster annual growth kept buying interest somewhat subdued.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of a more closely watched report on consumer price inflation later today.

Oil prices came off five-month highs on Tuesday as investors shifted their focus on the possible impact of Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on imports. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February closed lower by $1.32 or about 1.67 percent at $77.50 a barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will see December data for its M2 money stock later this morning, with forecasts suggesting no annual change at 1.2 percent.