Additional Support Predicted For Japan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Japan stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last five trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had plunged nearly 2,200 points or 4.2 percent. The Nikkei 225 now rests just above the 50,840-point plateau and it may tick higher again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the end of the U.S. government shutdown. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Nikkei finished modestly higher on Wednesday as the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers were mostly in the green.

For the day, the index gained 220.38 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 51,063.31 after trading between 50,537.50 and 51,072.26. Among the actives, Nissan Motor rose 0.36 percent, while Mazda Motor tumbled 1.99 percent, Toyota Motor accelerated 1.37 percent, Honda Motor strengthened 1.38 percent, Softbank Group plunged 3.46 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial soared 3.38 percent, Mizuho Financial collected 2.29 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial jumped 1.95 percent, Mitsubishi Electric shed 0.60 percent, Sony Group surged 3.67 percent, Panasonic Holdings rallied 4.69 percent and Hitachi improved 2.30 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is contradictory as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday but took different paths to finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow jumped 326.86 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 48,254.82, while the NASDAQ slipped 61.84 points or 0.26 percent to close at 23,406.46 and the S&P 500 rose 4.31 points or 0.06 percent to end at 6,850.92.

The continued advance by the Dow came amid strong gains by UnitedHealth (UNH), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Cisco Systems (CSCO). But continued decline by the tech-heavy NASDAQ reflected lingering valuation concerns.

Traders also kept an eye on developments in Washington, where the House of Representatives will vote on a bill ending the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

After the Senate voted Monday to approve the bill extending funding for most agencies until January 30, the House is set to vote on the legislation within the next few hours.

Crude oil prices plummeted on Wednesday after OPEC's monthly report suggested that global supply now exceeds demand by about 500,000 barrels per day. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $2.62 or 4.31 percent at $58.40 per barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will provide October data for producer prices later this morning; in September, producer prices were up 0.3 percent on month and 2.7 percent on year.