TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japan stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, sinking more than 900 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 53,800-point plateau and it may take further damage on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on disappointing data and continued weakness from technology stocks. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.
The Nikkei finished modestly lower on Thursday following mixed performances from the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers.
For the day, the index dropped 475.32 points or 0.88 percent to finish at 53,818.04 after trading between 53,653.06 and 54,459.08.
Among the actives, Nissan Motor advanced 0.89 percent, while Mazda Motor improved 0.81 percent, Toyota Motor shed 0.51 percent, Honda Motor accelerated 1.67 percent, Softbank Group plunged 7.01 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial stumbled 2.37 percent, Mizuho Financial retreated 1.94 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial collected 0.41 percent, Mitsubishi Electric lost 0.46 percent, Sony Group perked 0.09 percent, Panasonic Holdings surged 8.41 percent and Hitachi was up 0.08 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and spent the entire session in the red, ending near daily lows.
The Dow tumbled 592.58 points or 1.20 percent to finish at 48,908.72, while the NASDAQ sank 363.99 points or 1.59 percent to end at 22,540.59 and the S&P 500 shed 84.32 points or 1.23 percent to close at 6,798.40.
Weakness among tech stocks continued to weigh on Wall Street amid losses from Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) and Qualcomm (QCOM), which provided disappointing guidance.
Tech stocks have moved sharply lower over the past few sessions amid concerns about valuations and the impact of artificial intelligence.
In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose much more than expected last week. The Labor Department also said job openings in the U.S. unexpectedly fell to their lowest level in over five years in December.
Crude oil prices plunged on Thursday after weak U.S. jobs data increased demand concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was down $1.87 or 2.87 percent at $63.27 per barrel.
Closer to home, Japan will release December figures for household spending later this morning. Spending is expected to slip 1.3 percent on month and 0.5 percent on year after rising 6.2 percent on month and 2.9 percent on year in November.
Japan also will see preliminary December readings for its leading and coincident indexes; in November, the leading index was up 0.1 percent and the coincident fell 1.0 percent.
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