Win Streak May Continue For Japan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has climbed higher in back-to-back sessions, gathering almost 500 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 39,510-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with support expected from oil, gold and technology stocks. The European and U.S. markets were up on Thursday and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The Nikkei finished modestly higher on Thursday following mixed performances from the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers.

For the day, the index gained 99.19 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 39,513.97 after trading between 39,221.36 and 39,600.93.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor accelerated 1.42 percent, while Mazda Motor jumped 1.78 percent, Toyota Motor added 0.65 percent, Honda Motor fell 0.34 percent, Softbank Group skidded 1.06 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial dipped 0.25 percent, Mizuho Financial collected 0.78 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial shed 0.38 percent, Mitsubishi Electric sank 0.78 percent, Sony Group dropped 0.92 percent, Panasonic Holdings rallied 3.12 percent and Hitachi spiked 1.95 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Thursday, dipped into the red a few times but all ended above the unchanged line.

The Dow jumped 168.61 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 44,882.13, while the NASDAQ added 49.43 points or 0.25 percent to close at 19,681.75 and the S&P 500 gained 31.86 points or 0.53 percent to end at 6,071.17.

The major averages moved sharply lower late in the session after President Donald Trump said he would follow through on his threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico on February 1.

However, the major averages rebounded going into the close, reflecting the significant volatility from earnings news throughout the session.

Companies such as IBM Corp. (IBM) and Meta Platforms (META) posted quarterly results that beat expectations, while Microsoft (MSFT) and UPS (UPS) has decent earnings but provided disappointing guidance.

Oil futures settled marginally higher on Thursday on a likely drop in supplies amid a potential tariff on Canadian and Mexican goods, while a weaker dollar also provided support. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for March rose $0.11 or 0.15 percent at $72.73 a barrel.

Closer to home, Japan is scheduled to release a raft of data today, including December numbers for unemployment, industrial production, retail sales, construction orders and housing starts, as well as January figures for Tokyo inflation.

The jobless rate is expected to hold steady at 2.5 percent, while industrial production is tipped to rise 0.3 percent on month after slipping 2,2 percent in November. Retail sales are seen higher by 3.4 percent on year, up from 2.8 percent in the previous month. Construction orders fell 10.2 percent on year and housing starts sank 1.8 percent in November. Tokyo inflation was up 3.0 percent on year, while core CPI rose 2.4 percent.