(RTTNews) – Ahead of Tuesday’s holiday for the Autumnal Equinox, the Japanese stock market had alternated between positive and negative finishes through the previous four trading days, since the end of the four-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 1,430 points or 3.2 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just beneath the 45,500-point plateau and it’s looking at a soft start on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky on rising ambiguity over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The Nikkei finished sharply higher on Monday as the financial shares, automobile producers and technology stocks all ended mostly in the green.
For the day, the index surged 447.85 points or 0.99 percent to finish at 45,493.66 after trading between 45,193.77 and 45,757.74.
Among the actives, Nissan Motor improved 0.76 percent, while Mazda Motor accelerated 1.74 percent, Toyota Motor strengthened 1.40 percent, Honda Motor jumped 1.87 percent, Softbank Group tanked 2.42 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial collected 1.17 percent, Mizuho Financial spiked 1.82 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial advanced 0.96 percent, Mitsubishi Electric perked 0.03 percent, Sony Group rallied 1.60 percent, Panasonic Holdings surged 3.98 percent and Hitachi lost 0.41 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed but trended steadily lower as the day progressed, ending near session lows.
The Dow dropped 88.76 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 46,292.78, while the NASDAQ shed 215.50 points or 0.95 percent to end at 22,573.47 and the S&P 500 sank 36.83 points or 0.55 percent to close at 6,656.92.
The weakness that emerged on Wall Street may partly have reflected concerns that stocks are overvalued following comments by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
Speaking at an event Rhode Island, Powell described equity prices as “fairly highly valued” following the recent run to record highs.
Powell also addressed the outlook for monetary policy, noting that the Fed is facing a “challenging situation” as near-term risks to inflation are tilted to the upside and risks to employment to the downside.
Crude oil prices moved sharply higher on Tuesday as Iraq’s earlier-announced plans to export oil to Turkey from Kurdistan stalled due to payment issues. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $1.26 or 2.02 percent at $63.54 per barrel.
Closer to home, Japan will see September results for the manufacturing and services PMIs from Jibun Bank later this morning; in August, their scores were 49.7 and 53.1, respectively.
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