TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day losing streak in which it had plummeted more than 4,600 points or 7 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 64,610-point plateau although it's likely to bounce higher again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, with sliding oil prices offset by weakness among the tech shares. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The Nikkei finished sharply lower on Friday following losses among the technology, financial, automobile and chemical sectors.
For the day, the index tumbled 1,811.45 points or 2.73 percent to finish at 54,611.15 after trading between 64,201.03 and 65,720.81.
The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened mixed and bounced up and down all day before ending on opposite sides of the line.
The Dow jumped 235.60 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 51,947.25, while the NASDAQ sank 161.87 points or 0.64 percent to end at 24,975.82 and the S&P 500 perked 3.68 points or 0.05 percent to close at 7,411.98.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ tumbled 2.1 percent for the week, closing below 25,000 for the first time since late April. The S&P 500 and Dow posted more modest weekly losses, falling by 0.6 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.
The strength that emerged on Wall Street in morning trading came amid a sharp pullback by the price of crude oil as investors analyzed the impact of an output increase by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $2.99 or 3.24 percent at $89.20 per barrel.
The subsequent pullback by stocks in afternoon trading reflected renewed tariff concerns after President Donald Trump threatened to impose substantial tariffs on the European Union over the substantial fines the bloc has levied against major U.S. tech companies.
Closer to home, Japan will see May results for its leading and coincident indexes later today. The leading index is expected to rise 0.7 percent for the second straight month, while the coincident is seen higher by 0.4 percent - slowing from 1.3 percent in April.
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