TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japan stock market bounced higher again on Thursday, one day after ending the three-day winning streak in which it had collected almost 750 points or 2 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 38,430-point plateau and it may open to the upside again on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed, with tariff concerns continuing to linger. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The Nikkei finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers.
For the day, the index rallied 710.58 points or 1.88 percent to finish at 38,432.98 after trading between 38,035.32 and 38,454.07.
Among the actives, Nissan Motor accelerated 5.95 percent, while Mazda Motor spiked 3.28 percent, Toyota Motor soared 3.91 percent, Honda Motor surged 4.62 percent, Softbank Group improved 1.38 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial jumped 2.14 percent, Mizuho Financial collected 0.65 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial strengthened 1.54 percent, Mitsubishi Electric increased 1.48 percent, Sony Group rallied 3.90 percent, Panasonic Holdings gained 4.01 percent and Hitachi advanced 2.85 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Thursday, faded midday but bounced higher into the close.
The Dow climbed 117.03 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 42,215.73, while the NASDAQ added 74.93 points or 0.39 percent to close at 19,175.87 and the S&P 500 rose 23.62 points or 0.40 percent to end at 5,912.17.
Early buying interest was generated in reaction to news that a federal court blocked President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs on imports from U.S. trade partners from going into effect.
But the Trump administration immediately appealed the decision, and an appeals court temporarily paused the lower court's ruling later in the day.
A positive reaction to earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA) also contributed to initial strength on Wall Street after the company reported fiscal first quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
Crude oil futures moved sharply lower Thursday amid lingering supply concerns amid the possibility OPEC may accelerate oil production hikes in July. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery tumbled $0.90 or 1.5 percent to $60.94 a barrel.
Closer to home, Japan is scheduled to release a batch of data today, including April numbers for unemployment, industrial production retail sales, construction orders and housing starts, plus May figures for Tokyo inflation.
The jobless rate (2.5 percent) and the jobs/applicant ratio (1.26) are both expected to hold steady. Industrial production is expected to slip 1.4 percent on month after rising 0.2 percent in March. Retail sales are seen higher by 2.9 percent on year, easing from 3.1 percent in the previous month.
Construction orders are expected to fall 0.5 percent on year after adding 3.5 percent in March. Construction orders are tipped to tumble 18.2 percent after surging 39.1 percent a month earlier. In April, Tokyo overall inflation was up 3.5 percent on year and core CPI rose 3.4 percent.
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