TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market has climbed higher in two straight sessions, rallying more than 1,425 points or 2.8 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 48,275-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns over bad loans in the auto industry. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead.
The Nikkei finished sharply higher again on Thursday following gains from the financial shares and automobile producers, while the technology stocks were mixed.
For the day, the index jumped 605.07 points or 1.27 percent to finish at 48,277.74 after trading between 47,937.72 and 48,317.34.
Among the actives, Nissan Motor accelerated 1.79 percent, while Mazda Motor added 0.64 percent, Toyota Motor strengthened 1.41 percent, Honda Motor rose 0.26 percent, Softbank Group skyrocketed 8.59 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial collected 0.44 percent, Mizuho Financial jumped 1.45 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial rallied 1.69 percent, Mitsubishi Electric skidded 1.02 percent, Sony Group shed 0.48 percent, Panasonic Holdings lost 0.47 percent and Hitachi spiked 2.15 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened higher on Thursday but dropped into the red midday and stayed there for the balance of the session.
The Dow stumbled 301.07 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 45,952.24, while the NASDAQ clumped 107.54 points or 0.47 percent to close at 22.562.54 and the S&P 500 sank 41.99 points or 0.63 percent to end at 6,629.07.
The weakness that materialized on Wall Street was attributed to the emergence of concerns about bad loans following the recent bankruptcies of two auto industry-related companies First Brands and Tricolor Holdings.
Earlier in the day, the tech sector rose on upbeat earnings news from Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM), which produces chips for Nvidia (NVDA). TSM reported a bigger than expected surge in Q3 profits amid strong AI chip demand and raised its forecast for revenue growth.
On the U.S. economic front, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia noted a substantial pullback by its reading on regional manufacturing activity in the month of October.
Crude oil prices tumbled on Thursday after the Energy Information said that crude oil inventories in the U.S. increased much more than expected, sparking demand concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude Oil for November delivery was down $0.97 or 1.66 percent at $57.30 per barrel.
Copyright(c) 2025 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2025 AFX News
