Japan Stock Market May Find Support On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, dropping almost 450 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 37,750-point plateau although it may find traction on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the outlooks for tariffs and trade. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Nikkei finished barely lower on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers.

For the day, the index eased 1.79 points or 0.00 percent to finish at 37,753.72 after trading between 37,479.21 and 37,786.43.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor accelerated 4.84 percent, while Mazda Motor rallied 2.16 percent, Toyota Motor shed 0.55 percent, Honda Motor perked 0.18 percent, Softbank Group skidded 1.06 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial advanced 0.88 percent, Mizuho Financial tumbled 1.97 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial retreated 1.59 percent, Mitsubishi Electric soared 3.47 percent, Sony Group slumped 2.15 percent, Panasonic Holdings jumped 1.47 percent and Hitachi dropped 1.37 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages shook off a soft start on Friday and continued to trend higher throughout the day, ending at session highs.

The Dow rallied 331.94 points or 0.78 percent to finish at 42,654.74, while the NASDAQ added 98.80 points or 0.52 percent to close at 19,211.10 and the S&P 500 gained 41.45 points or 0.70 percent to end at 5,958.38.

For the week, the NASDAQ surged 7.2 percent, the S&P spiked 5.3 percent and the Dow soared 3.4 percent.

News of the U.S.-China trade deal generated considerable buying interest that carried over for much of the week. While uncertainty remains about the U.S. and its trade partners reaching deals that permanently lower tariffs, traders have continued to express optimism.

Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off data from the University of Michigan showing consumer sentiment in the U.S. has unexpectedly continued to deteriorate in the month of May.

Crude oil futures showed a strong move to the upside on Friday amid optimism about U.S. trade policies. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery jumped $0.87 or 1.4 percent to $62.49 a barrel. For the week, the price of crude oil surged 2.4 percent.

Closer to home, Japan will see March results for its tertiary industry activity index later today; in February, the index was at -0.90.