Continued Consolidation Called For Nikkei

(RTTNews) - The Japan stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, dropping more than 825 points or 1.9 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now sits just beneath the 42,890-point plateau and it may take further damage again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak, with technology stocks expected to continue to weigh. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

The Nikkei finished sharply lower on Wednesday following losses from the technology stocks and mixed performances from the financial shares and automobile producers.

For the day, the index stumbled 657.74 points or 1.51 percent to finish at 42,888.55 after trading between 42,724.15 and 43,425.78.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor retreated 1.55 percent, while Mazda Motor fell 0.33 percent, Toyota Motor added 0.41 percent, Honda Motor accelerated 2.01 percent, Softbank Group plummeted 7.14 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial collected 0.42 percent, Mizuho Financial improved 0.80 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial dipped 0.29 percent, Mitsubishi Electric tanked 2.07 percent, Sony Group dropped 0.96 percent, Panasonic Holdings eased 0.13 percent and Hitachi stumbled 2.86 percent.

The lead from Wall Street continues to be soft as the major averages spent most of Wednesday in the red and finally finished mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 16.04 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 44,938.31, while the NASDAQ sank 142.09 points or 0.67 percent to end at 21,172.86 and the S&P 500 fell 15.59 points or 0.24 percent to close at 6,395.78.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected an extended sell-off by technology stocks following reports indicating the Trump administration is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's highly anticipated speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on Friday.

Powell's remarks could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Fed's next monetary policy meeting in September. CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 82.9 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point next month.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration said crude oil inventories in the U.S. decreased much more than expected last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was up $0.79 or 1.3 percent at $63.14 a barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will see preliminary August results for the manufacturing and service PMIs from Jibun Bank later this morning; in July, their scores were 48.9 and 53.6, respectively.