Japan Shares May Head South Again On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Japan stock market on Thursday snapped the two-day slide in which it had tumbled almost 3,200 points or 4.2 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 72,350-point plateau although it may hand back some of those gains on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on continuing tensions in the Middle East and weak economic data. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed to lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The Nikkei finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares, automobile producers and technology stocks.

For the day, the index skyrocketed 3,191.38 points or 4.61 percent to finish at 72,366.34 after trading between

Among the actives, Nissan Motor rose 0.33 percent, while Mazda Motor accelerated 1.87 percent, Toyota Motor added 0.54 percent, Honda Motor vaulted 1.62 percent, Softbank Group surged 7.90 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial collected 0.87 percent, Mizuho Financial perked 0.04 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial fell 0.25 percent, Mitsubishi Electric was up 0.07 percent, Sony Group tumbled 1.63 percent, Panasonic Holdings soared 3.50 percent and Hitachi tanked 2.92 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened slightly higher on Thursday but spent most of the day bouncing back and forth across the line, finally ending mixed.

The Dow added 71.72 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 51,920.62, while the NASDAQ slumped 118.03 points or 0.46 percent to end at 25,358.60 and the S&P 500 dipped 0.73 points or 0.01 percent to close at 7,357.49.

The aimless trade came as investors digested a slew of economic data and some corporate news, including earnings update from Micron Technology - which rallied on stronger-than-expected earnings and an upward revision in revenue forecast.

In economic news, the Labor Department showed the core PCE price index - which is the Federal Reserve's preferred gauge of underlying inflation - moved further above the Federal Reserve's percent target. Also, the Commerce Department said new orders dropped more than expected, while jobless claims were down from a week earlier and GDP slowed in the first quarter.

Traders also kept an eye on developments in the Middle East as tensions along the Strait of Hormuz persist.

Crude oil prices jumped on Thursday as supply disruption threats reappeared after a projectile hit a cargo ship near Oman across the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was up $1.49 or 2.12 percent at $71.83 per barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will see June results for consumer prices in the Tokyo region later this morning; in May, overall Tokyo inflation was up 1.4 percent on year and core CPI rose an annual 1.3 percent.