TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japan stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had plunged nearly 2,200 points or 4.2 percent. The Nikkei 225 now rests just above the 50,840-point plateau and it may tick higher again on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat amid optimism about an end to the record-setting U.S. government shutdown. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The Nikkei finished slightly lower on Tuesday following mixed performances from the financial shares and technology stocks, while the automobile producers were up.
For the day, the index dipped 68.83 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 50,842.93 after trading between 50,581.17 and 51,513.16.
Among the actives, Nissan Motor climbed 1.03 percent, while Mazda Motor accelerated 3.42 percent, Toyota Motor gained 0.51 percent, Honda Motor improved 0.83 percent, Softbank Group jumped 1.98 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial shed 0.36 percent. Mizuho Financial fell 0.28 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial rose 0.21 percent, Mitsubishi Electric added 0.63 percent, Sony Group surged 5.51 percent, Panasonic Holdings dropped 0.96 percent and Hitachi advanced 0.89 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is incongruous as the major averages opened mixed and ultimately finished the same way.
The Dow jumped 559.33 points or 1.18 percent to finish at 47,927.96, while the NASDAQ slumped 58.87 points or 0.25 percent to close at 23,468.30 and the S&P 500 rose 14.18 points or 0.21 percent to end at 6,846.61.
The mixed performance on Wall Street came as traders express some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets - especially the possibility of a tech bubble - following recent volatility.
However, valuation concerns continue to hang over the markets, as traders had largely shrugged off worries about the economic impact of the shutdown.
A sharp increase by the price of crude oil has also contributed to considerable strength among energy stocks, which are moving higher along with biotechnology and healthcare stocks.
On the other hand, semiconductor stocks have come under pressure, dragging the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down by 2.0 percent.
Closer to home, Japan will see October numbers for money stock and machine tool orders later today. The M2 money stock us expected to rise 1.8 percent on year, up from 1.6 percent in September. Tool orders are seen higher by an annual 9.9 percent, up from 8.1 percent in the previous month.
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