Soft Start Likely For Japan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market on Tuesday ended the three-day losing streak in which it had dropped more than 360 points or 0.9 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just beneath the 39,680-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with weakness expected from the oil, finance and property stocks, while the technology companies may offer support. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were also mostly soft and the Asian market figure to open in the red.

The Nikkei finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares and mixed performances from the technology and automobile companies.

For the day, the index gained 218.40 points or 0.55 percent to finish at the daily high of 39,678.02 after trading as low as 39,379.32.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor shed 0.53 percent, while Mazda Motor lost 0.56 percent, Toyota Motor perked 0.02 percent, Honda Motor rose 0.26 percent, Softbank Group rallied 2.00 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial collected 0.30 percent, Mizuho Financial added 0.59 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial improved 0.16 percent, Mitsubishi Electric jumped 1.57 percent, Sony Group sank 0.64 percent, Panasonic Holdings fell 0.21 percent and Hitachi spiked 2.27 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday and trended generally lower, remaining mixed at the close.

The Dow tumbled 436.36 points or 0.98 percent to finish at 44,023.29, while the NASDAQ gained 37.47 points or 0.18 percent to close at a record 20,677.80 and the S&P 500 sank 24,80 points or 0.40 percent to end at 6,243.76.

The uptick by the NASDAQ came amid strength in the semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 1.3 percent gain posted by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. The index ended the session at its best closing level in a year.

Nvidia (NVDA) helped lead the sector higher, with the AI darling surging by 4.0 percent to a record closing high after indicating it will "soon" resume H20 AI chip sales to China.

On the other hand, housing stocks moved sharply lower on the day, resulting in a 3.3 percent plunge by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. Oil service stocks also slumped amid a decrease by the price of crude oil, dragging the Philadelphia Oil Service Index down by 3.1 percent.

Crude oil price fell modestly on Tuesday as the previously predicted supply-side pressure from Russia due to President Donald Trump's sanctions waned with his 50-day ultimatum. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery closed down by $0.46 at $66.52 per barrel.