Steady Start Eyed For Japan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, slumping more than 1,150 points or 2.8 percent in that span. The Nikkei 225 now sits just beneath the 41,000-point plateau although it's due for support on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets offers little guidance, with support from oil and technology stocks likely to be offset by weakness from the property and transportation companies. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Nikkei finished barely lower on Wednesday following mixed performances from the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers. For the day, the index slipped 19.85 points or 0.05 percent to finish at 40,654.70 after trading between 40,556.61 and 40,744.53. Among the actives, Nissan Motor retreated 1.25 percent, while Mazda Motor sank 0.67 percent, Toyota Motor perked 0.07 percent, Honda Motor tanked 2.06 percent, Softbank Group shed 0.52 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial collected 0.84 percent, Mizuho Financial rose 0.34 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial advanced 0.92 percent, Mitsubishi Electric added 0.46 percent, Sony Group climbed 1.03 percent, Panasonic Holdings dipped 0.13 percent and Hitachi rallied 3.01 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened slightly higher on Wednesday and hugged the line until the FOMC statement, ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow dropped 171.71 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 44,461.28, while the NASDAQ rose 31.38 points or 0.15 percent to close at 21,129.67 and the S&P 500 fell 7.96 points or 0.12 percent to end at 6,362.90.

The mixed closed by the major averages came after the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged in a divided vote.

The decision to leave rates unchanged was not unanimous as Fed Governors Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller preferred to lower rates by a quarter percentage point.

In economic news, payroll processor ADP said private sector employment in the U.S. increased more than expected in July. Also, the Commerce Department said the U.S. economy rebounded by more than expected in the second quarter of 2025.

Crude oil inched higher on Wednesday on hopes the U.S. can avoid a trade war, while the grace period was cut for Russia to avoid sanctions on its energy trades from 50 to 10 days. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery rose $0.82 or 1.18 percent at $70.02 per barrel.

Closer to home, the Bank of Japan will wrap up its monetary policy meeting this morning and then announce its decision on interest rates; the BoJ is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate steady at 0.50 percent.

Japan also will see June figures for industrial production, retail sales and housing starts, as well as July results for its household confidence index. Industrial production is expected to slip 0.7 percent on month after easing 0.1 percent in May.

Retail sales are tipped to rise 1.8 percent, down from 2.2 percent in the previous month. Housing starts are expected to sink 16.3 percent on year after tumbling 34.4 percent a month earlier. The household confidence index is expected to show a score of 35.1, up from 34.5 in June.