Japan Stock Market May Find Traction On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, stumbling more than 475 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now rests just above the 39,600-point plateau although it's likely to stop the bleeding on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky as the U.S. markets were shuttered on Thursday - while the European markets were roughly flat with an upside bias, and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index declined 375.97 points or 0.94 percent to finish at 39,605.09 after trading between 39,385.05 and 39,930.07.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor plunged 3.64 percent, while Mazda Motor plummeted 4.33 percent, Toyota Motor surrendered 2.21 percent, Honda Motor stumbled 2.57 percent, Softbank Group fell 0.45 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial eased 0.08 percent, Mizuho Financial skidded 1.17 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial slumped 1.21 percent, Mitsubishi Electric tanked 2.69 percent, Sony Group retreated 1.37 percent, Panasonic Holdings declined 1.44 percent and Hitachi weakened 1.41 percent.

There is no lead from Wall Street as the U.S. financial markets were closed on Thursday in honor of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who died in late December at age 100.

Investors are looking ahead to the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report later today, which will potentially provide additional clarity about the strength of the labor market.

Oil prices moved higher Thursday amid optimism about the outlook for global oil demand, and potential supply shortage due to the sanctions on Iranian and Russian crude exports. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled higher by $0.60 or 0.82 percent at $73.92 a barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will release November numbers for household spending later this morning. Spending is expected to slip 0.9 percent on month and 0.8 percent on year after rising 2.9 percent on month and falling 1.3 percent on year in October. Japan also will see November results for its leading and coincident indexes; in October, they were up 0.2 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively.