Nikkei 225 Due For Profit Taking On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Japan stock market has finished higher in three straight sessions, collecting almost 490 points or 0.8 percent along the way. Now at a fresh record closing high, the Nikkei 225 sits just above the 53,375-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amidst profit taking and contrasting earnings news. The European and U.S. markets were mixed with a touch of weakness, and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.

The Nikkei finished barely higher on Thursday following gains from the automobile producers and financial shares, while the technology companies were mixed.

For the day, the index rose 16.89 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 53,375.60 after trading between 52,990.42 and 53,742.69. Among the actives, Nissan Motor climbed 1.19 percent, while Mazda Motor accelerated 1.66 percent, Toyota Motor spiked 3.02 percent, Honda Motor vaulted 2.17 percent, Softbank Group strengthened 1.52 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial advanced 0.96 percent, Mizuho Financial collected 0.91 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial expanded 1.40 percent, Mitsubishi Electric perked 0.17 percent, Sony Group added 0.82 percent, Panasonic Holdings slumped 1.10 percent and Hitachi fell 0.20 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and then mostly hugged the line before ending mixed.

The Dow rose 55.96 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 49,071.56, while the NASDAQ slumped 172.33 points or 0.72 percent to end at 23,685.12 and the S&P 500 dipped 9.02 points or 0.13 percent to close at 6,969.01.

The early sell-off on Wall Street came amid a steep drop by shares of Microsoft (MSFT) after the company reported slowing cloud computing growth in its fiscal second quarter and provided disappointing third quarter guidance.

Profit taking may also have contributed to the early weakness after the S&P 500 briefly peeked above the 7,000 level for the first time during Wednesday's session.

A strong performance by shares of Meta Platforms (META) may have limited the downside after the Facebook parent reported better than expected fourth quarter results and forecast first quarter revenues above estimates.

Crude oil prices spiked on Thursday as Iran shrugged off U.S. threats to negotiate or face attack, causing concerns over possible supply disruptions. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was up $2.23 or 3.53 percent at $65.44 per barrel.

Closer to home, Japan is scheduled to release a batch of data today. On tap are December figures for unemployment, industrial production, retail sales, construction orders and housing starts, plus January numbers for Tokyo inflation.

Industrial production is expected to sink 0.4 percent on month after falling 2.7 percent in November. Retail sales are seen higher by 0.7 percent on year, easing from 1.0 percent in the previous month. The jobless rate is called steady at 2.6 percent.

Housing starts are expected to fall an annual 4.5 percent after dropping 8.5 percent in November. Construction orders are tipped to rise 5.1 percent on year, moderating from 9.5 percent a month earlier. In December, overall Tokyo inflation was up 2.0 percent on year and core CPI rose 2.3 percent.