Renewed Consolidation Expected For Japan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Monday's holiday for the Emperor's birthday, the Japanese stock market had ended the two-day slide in which it had stumbled almost 600 points or 1.7 percent. The Nikkei 225 now rests just above the 38,775-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on growing U.S. tariff concerns. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian markets are also expected to open under pressure. The Nikkei finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the automobile producers, weakness from the financial shares and a mixed picture from the technology stocks. For the day, the index added 98.90 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 38,776.94 after trading between 38,456.53 and 38,808.81. Among the actives, Nissan Motor skyrocketed 9.47 percent, while Mazda Motor jumped 1.86 percent, Toyota Motor dipped 0.17 percent, Honda Motor advanced 0.99 percent, Softbank Group shed 0.65 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial skidded 1.17 percent, Mizuho Financial tanked 2.48 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial sank 0.82 percent, Sony Group spiked 2.17 percent, Panasonic Holdings strengthened 1.35 percent, Hitachi slumped 2.87 percent and Mitsubishi Electric was unchanged. The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened higher on Monday but faded quickly and finished mixed.

The Dow added 33.19 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 43,461.21, while the NASDAQ tumbled 237.08 points or 1.21 percent to close at 19,286.93 and the S&P 500 sank 29.88 points or 0.50 percent to end at 5,983.25.

The NASDAQ and the S&P 500 ended the day firmly in the red after President Donald Trump said previously delayed tariffs on Canada and Mexico are "going forward on time." The volatility on Wall Street also came as traders looked ahead to the release of earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA). The AI darling and market leader is scheduled to release its fourth quarter results after the close of trading on Wednesday.

Oil prices climbed higher on Monday as fresh sanctions by the United States on Iran raised the possibility of a drop in global supplies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April settled higher by $0.30 at $70.70 a barrel. Closer to home, Japan will see January data for producer prices later this morning, with forecasts suggesting a steady reading of an annual 2.9 percent.