Japan Stock Market Tipped To Open In The Green

(RTTNews) - The Japan stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, advancing more than 1,750 points or 3 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 58,580-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, riding solely on the strength of technology companies. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are likely to follow that lead.

The Nikkei finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the automobile and technology companies, while the financial sector was soft.

For the day, the index rallied 1,262.03 points or 2.20 percent to finish at 58,583.12 after trading between 57,656.50 and 58,875.17. Among the actives, Nissan Motor slumped 1.22 percent, while Mazda Motor accelerated 1.45 percent, Toyota Motor jumped 1.75 percent, Honda Motor rose 0.36 percent, Softbank Group retreated 1.44 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial tumbled 1.97 percent, Mizuho Financial plunged 4.14 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial tanked 1.88 percent, Mitsubishi Electric dropped 0.95 percent, Sony Group shed 0.42 percent, Panasonic Holdings soared 3.33 percent and Hitachi rallied 1.39 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday and remained in the green throughout the trading day, ending at session highs.

The Dow climbed 307.65 points or 0.63 percent to finish at 49,482.15, while the NASDAQ jumped 288.40 points or 1.26 percent to close at 23,152.08 and the S&P 500 gained 56.06 points or 0.81 percent to end at 6,946.13.

The strength on Wall Street reflected optimism ahead of the release of earnings news from AI chipmaker and market leader Nvidia (NVDA) after the close of Wednesday's trade. The company's earnings came in at $42.960 billion, or $1.76 per share compared to $22.091 billion, or $0.89 per share, last year.

Software stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, with the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index spiking by 3.1 percent. The index continued to regain ground after slumping to its lowest closing level in ten months on Monday amid easing AI disruption concerns.

The price of crude oil ticked lower on Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration reported a substantial rebound by U.S. crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery slipped $0.15 or 0.2 percent to $65.48 a barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will see December data for its leading and coincident indexes later today. The leading index is expected to rise 0.3 percent on month, up from 0.1 percent in November. The coincident is called lower by 0.4 percent on month after slipping 1.0 percent a month earlier.