Japan Stock Market Tipped To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Japan stock market on Friday snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had risen more than 430 points or 1 percent. The Nikkei 225 now rests just beneath the 42,720-point plateau and it may take further damage on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with oil and technology shares likely to lead the way lower. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The Nikkei finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers.

For the day, the index slumped 110.33 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 42,718.47 after trading between 42,611.31 and 42,807.03. Among the actives, Nissan Motor skidded 1.10 percent, while Mazda Motor retreated 1.34 percent, Toyota Motor tumbled 1.58 percent, Honda Motor declined 1.29 percent, Softbank Group rallied 2.01 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial both fell 0.37 percent, Mizuho Financial dipped 0.24 percent, Mitsubishi Electric stumbled 1.91 percent, Sony Group slumped 1.45 percent, Panasonic Holdings dropped 1.21 percent and Hitachi contracted 1.58 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened under water and stayed that way throughout the trading day.

The Dow dropped 92.02 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 45,544.88, while the NASDAQ tumbled 249.65 points or 1.15 percent to end at 21,455.55 and the S&P 500 sank 41.60 points or 0.64 percent to close at 6,420.26. For the week, the S&P 500 eased 0.1 percent and the Dow and NASDAQ both dipped 0.2 percent.

The weakness on Wall Street reflected profit taking, as some traders looked to cash in on the recent strength in the markets.

Meanwhile, traders seemingly shrugged off a typically closely watched Commerce Department report showing U.S. consumer prices increased in line with estimates in July.

While the data increased confidence the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates, a September rate cut may already have been priced into the markets. CME Group's FedWatch is currently indicating an 87.1 percent chance that the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point at its next monetary policy meeting.

Crude oil prices fell Friday on concerns on overproduction concerns as OPEC recently agreed to increase crude production by 547,000 barrels per day in September. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was down $0.60 or 0.93 percent at $64.00 per barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will see Q2 data for capital spending later this morning, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 6.3 percent on year, easing from 6.4 percent in the three months prior.