Japan Stock Market Due For Support On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Japan stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, slumping more than 1,050 points or 1.9 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 56,560-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside, although most of the regional markets remain shuttered for the Lunar New Year holiday. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Nikkei finished modestly lower again on Tuesday as losses from the financial shares and technology stocks were mitigated by support from the automobile producers.

For the day, the index slumped 239.92 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 56,566.49 after trading between 56,135.12 and 56,926.24. Among the actives, Nissan Motor surged 6.04 percent, while Mazda Motor rallied 2.19 percent, Toyota Motor accelerated 1.28 percent, Honda Motor advanced 0.96 percent, Softbank Group plummeted 5.10 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial skidded 1.19 percent, Mizuho Financial plunged 3.78 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial stumbled 2.39 percent, Mitsubishi Electric dropped 0.94 percent, Sony Group cratered 3.35 percent, Panasonic Holdings retreated 1.36 percent and Hitachi tanked 3.72 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday and spent the day bouncing back and forth across the line before finally ending with mild gains.

The Dow added 32.26 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 49,533.19, while the NASDAQ gained 31.71 points or 0.14 percent to close at 22,578.38 and the S&P 500 perked 7.05 points or 0.10 percent to end at 6,843.22.

The choppy trade on Wall Street came as traders were reluctant to make significant moves ahead of key economic data in the coming days. The minutes of the Fed's latest monetary policy meeting may also shed additional light on the outlook for interest rates.

Also, investors remain leery about the effect that artificial intelligence is having on technology companies, weighing on that sector.

In economic news, the National Association of Home Builders reported that homebuilder confidence unexpectedly deteriorated in February.

Crude oil prices showed another notable move to the downside on Tuesday amid reports indicating that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is leaning towards resuming oil output increases from April. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery slid $0.44 or 0.7 percent to $62.45 a barrel.