TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - Ahead of Monday's holiday for Mountain Day, the Japan stock market had moved higher in four consecutive sessions, advancing more than 1,580 points or 3.8 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 41,820-point plateau although investors are likely to lock in gains on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of key U.S. inflation data. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets also figure to track into the red.
The Nikkei finished sharply higher on Friday with gains cross the board, especially among the finance, automobile and technology sectors.
For the day, the index surged 761.38 points or 1.85 percent to finish at 41,820.48 after trading between 41,248.05 and 42,033.92.
Among the actives, Nissan Motor accelerated 2.75 percent, while Mazda Motor spiked 4.91 percent, Toyota Motor jumped 3.47 percent, Honda Motor rallied 3.95 percent, Softbank Group skyrocketed 10.39 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial collected 0.64 percent, Mizuho Financial advanced 1.02 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial added 0.71 percent, Mitsubishi Electric fell 0.28 percent, Sony Group soared 3.50 percent, Panasonic Holdings climbed 1.16 percent and Hitachi rose 0.50 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened mixed on Monday, rallied midday but then slumped in the afternoon and finished under water.
The Dow dropped 200.52 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 43,975.09, while the NASDAQ sank 64.62 points or 0.30 percent to close at 21,385.40 and the S&P 500 fell 16.00 points or 0.25 percent to end at 6,373.45.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of several closely watched economic reports in the coming days.
The Labor Department's report on consumer price inflation in the month of July is likely to be in focus later today as the data could impact the outlook for interest rates.
Ahead of the release of the data, CME Group's FedWatch Tool is indicating an 86.5 percent chance the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates by a quarter point next month.
Crude oil edged higher on Monday as Russia shrugged off the U.S. deadline to end its war with Ukraine or face sanctions. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was up $0.17 or 0.27 percent at $64.05 per barrel.
Closer to home, Japan will provide July data for its M2 money stock later this morning, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.8 percent on year, down from 0.9 percent in June.
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