TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market on Wednesday wrote a finish to the four-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 1,400 points or 3.7 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just beneath the 38,130-point plateau although it may tick to the upside again on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky as uncertainty about U.S. trade policies continues to weigh. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mostly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The Nikkei finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the automobile producers, gains from the financials and a mixed picture from the technology stocks.
For the day, the index dipped 55.13 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 38,128.13 after trading between 37,851.80 and 38,325.88.
Among the actives, Nissan Motor lost 0.70 percent, while Mazda Motor surrendered 2.61 percent, Toyota Motor plunged 3.53 percent, Honda Motor stumbled 2.86 percent, Softbank Group spiked 3.89 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial jumped 1.97 percent, Mizuho Financial collected 1.61 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial rallied 2.08 percent, Mitsubishi Electric sank 0.84 percent, Sony Group surged 3.67 percent, Panasonic Holdings tanked 3.75 percent and Hitachi perked 0.13 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is mixed to higher as the major averages opened in the green but spent most of the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before finally ending mixed.
The Dow slumped 89.37 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 42,051.06, while the NASDAQ rallied 136.72 points or 0.72 percent to close at 19,146.81 and the S&P 500 rose 6.03 points or 0.10 percent to end at 5,892.58.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders took a step back to assess the recent rally by the markets, which has seen the S&P 500 rebound strongly from its early April lows to turn positive for 2025.
While trade deals between the U.S. and China and the U.K. have helped ease concerns about President Donald Trump's trade policies, uncertainty about the eventual outcome continues to hang over the markets.
Traders also were reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of a slew of U.S. economic data on Thursday, including producer prices, retail sales and industrial production. A speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is also likely to attract attention.
Crude oil prices slipped again on Wednesday, after data showed that U.S. crude inventories unexpectedly jumped last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery shed 0.80 or 1.27 percent to 62.87 per barrel.
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