Japan Stock Market May Turn Lower Again On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market on Wednesday halted the two-day losing streak in which it had dropped more than 940 points or 2.3 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 39,410-point plateau although it's likely to hand back some of those gains on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Nikkei finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares and technology stocks, while the automobile producers came in mixed.

For the day, the index climbed 397.91 points or 1.02 percent to finish at 39,414.78 after trading between 39,129.14 and 39,448.24.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor dipped 0.02 percent, while Mazda Motor added 0.63 percent, Toyota Motor accelerated 1.40 percent, Honda Motor shed 0.50 percent, Softbank Group spiked 2.43 percent, Mizuho Financial collected 2.23 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial rose 0.21 percent, Sony Group soared 3.78 percent, Panasonic Holdings advanced 0.89 percent, Hitachi jumped 1.84 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday but they all trended lower throughout the day and finished under water.

The Dow dropped 136.83 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 44,713.52, while the NASDAQ slumped 101.26 points or 0.51 percent to close at 19,632.32 and the S&P 500 sank 28.39 points or 0.47 percent to end at 6,039.31.

The lower close on Wall Street came after the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged following its first monetary policy meeting of 2025.

The decision to leave rates unchanged came as the Fed noted inflation remains "somewhat elevated" and reiterated its strong commitment to returning inflation to its 2 percent objective.

The central bank's next monetary policy meeting is scheduled for March 18-19; CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 77.6 percent chance the Fed will once again leave rates unchanged.

Oil prices dropped on Wednesday after data showed crude inventories in the U.S. rose last week, while concerns about the outlook for oil demand from China continued to weigh on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended lower by $1.15 or 1.56 percent at $72.62 a barrel.