TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market on Thursday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped almost 2,550 points or 4 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 65,680-point plateau and it may take further damage on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of key U.S. jobs data, and on a spike in crude oil prices. The European markets were flat and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The Nikkei finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the technology stocks and automobile producers.
For the day, the index slumped 617.18 points or 0.93 percent to finish at 65,683.26 after trading between 64,942.07 and 65,983.13.
The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened higher on Thursday but quickly slipped into the red and remained there for the balance of the day.
The Dow dropped 464.02 points or 0.85 percent to finish at 53,885.10, while the NASDAQ dipped 15.09 points or 0.06 percent to close at 16,348.35 and the S&P 500 sank 13.59 points or 0.18 percent to end at 7,709.96.
The choppy trading by the broader markets came as traders were reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report later today.
The report is expected to show employment jumped by 88,000 jobs in July after climbing by 57,000 jobs in June, and it may have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates.
Ahead of the release of the monthly jobs report, the Labor Department released a report showing a slight uptick in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.
Crude oil prices surged on Thursday following attacks on Saudi Arabian tankers in the Red Sea. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was up $2.11 or 2.81 percent at $77.33 per barrel.
Closer to home, Japan will release June figures for household spending later this morning. Spending is seen lower by 3.1 percent on month and higher by 0.8 percent on year after rising 3.7 percent on month and falling 0.4 percent on year in May.
Japan also will see preliminary June results for its leading and coincident indexes; in May, the leading index was down 0.2 percent on month and the coincident was up 0.4 percent.
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