TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market on Tuesday snapped the two-day slide in which it had given up more than 400 points of 0.7 percent. The Nikkei now sits just beneath the 62,750-point plateau although it may head south again on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on surging oil prices and weakness among technology stocks. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets also figure to open to the downside.
The Nikkei finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares and mixed performances from the technology stocks and automobile producers.
For the day, the index gained 324.69 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 62,742.57 after trading between 62,158.43 and 63,218.51.
Among the actives, Nissan Motor fell 0.20 percent, while Mazda Motor accelerated 4.07 percent, Toyota Motor dropped 0.94 percent, Honda Motor rose 0.36 percent, Softbank Group rallied 4.25 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial collected 1.03 percent, Mizuho Financial climbed 1.16 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial vaulted 2.26 percent, Mitsubishi Electric slumped 1.15 percent, Sony Group soared 3.32 percent, Panasonic Holdings jumped 2.13 percent and Hitachi lost 0.39 percent.
The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened lower but trended higher as the session progressed, with the Dow finally peaking into positive territory by the day's end.
The Dow rose 56.09 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 49,760.56, while the NASDAQ sank 185.92 points or 0.71 percent to end at 26,088.20 and the S&P 500 dipped 11.88 points or 0.16 percent to close at 7,400.96.
An extended surge by the price of crude oil contributed to the early sell-off on Wall Street, with U.S. crude oil futures soaring by more than 4 percent and jumping back above $100 a barrel.
The continued increase by the price of crude oil comes as the U.S. and Iran struggle to reach an agreement to end the war and reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz.
The weakness on Wall Street also came following the release of a report from the Labor Department showing the fastest annual rate of consumer price growth since May 2023 - making any rate cuts in the near future extremely unlikely.
Closer to home, Japan will today provide March numbers for its current account and April results for bank lending and for the eco watchers current index. The current account is expected to show a surplus of 3.879 trillion yen, down from 3.933 trillion yen in February. Bank lending is seen higher by an annual 4.6 percent, easing from 4.8 percent in March. The eco index is pegged at 41.5, down from 42.2 a month earlier.
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