Japan Bourse May Extend Thursday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market bounced higher again on Thursday, one day after halting the seven-day winning streak in which it had rallied more than 2,600 points or 7.6 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just shy of the 36,930-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on easing trade concerns. The European and U.S. markets were mostly higher and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The Nikkei finished modestly higher on Thursday as the financial shares and technology stocks ended mostly in the green.

For the day, the index gained 148.97 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 36,928.63 after trading between 36,606.71 and 36,977.35.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor shed 0.62 percent, while Mazda Motor advanced 0.93 percent, Toyota Motor tumbled 1.83 percent, Honda Motor skidded 1.03 percent, Softbank Group tanked 2.39 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial collected 0.74 percent, Mizuho Financial improved 0.86 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial fell 0.27 percent, Mitsubishi Electric climbed 1.15 percent, Sony Group stumbled 2.26 percent, Panasonic Holdings rallied 1.04 percent and Hitachi gained 0.42 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and remained firmly in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow jumped 254.48 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 41,368.45, while the NASDAQ rallied 189.98 points or 1.07 percent to close at 17,928.14 and the S&P 500 gained 32.66 points or 0.58 percent to end at 5,663.94.

The strength on Wall Street came after President Donald Trump unveiled the framework of a trade agreement with the U.K.

Trump claimed the deal includes billions of dollars of increased market access for American exports, especially in agriculture, and will see the U.K. reduce or eliminate numerous non-tariff barriers.

In economic news, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits saw a modest decline last week. Also, the Labor Department noted a pullback by U.S. labor productivity in the first quarter of 2025 along with a sharp increase by unit labor costs.

Crude oil futures rallied on Thursday following news of the trade agreement between the United States and Great Britain. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery surged $1.84 or 3.2 percent to $59.91 a barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will provide March numbers for household spending and its leading and coincident indexes later today. Spending is expected to slip 0.5 percent on month and rise 0.2 percent on year after climbing 3.5 percent on month and easing 0.5 percent on year in February. The leading index was down 0.3 percent on month in February and the coincident rose 0.9 percent.