Japan Stock Market May Reverse Friday’s Losses

The Japanese stock market headed south again on Friday, one session after ending the five-day losing streak in which it had plummeted more than 1,630 points or 4.3 percent. The Nikkei 225 now rests just above the 38,450-point plateau although it figures to rebound again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on an improved outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were solidly higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The Nikkei finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financials and mixed performances from the technology stocks and automobile producers.

For the day, the index slumped 121.14 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 38,451.46 after trading between 38,055.68 and 38,503.94.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor climbed 1.14 percent, while Mazda Motor shed 0.69 percent, Toyota Motor tumbled 1.73 percent, Honda Motor rose 0.27 percent, Softbank Group retreated 1.33 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial skidded 1.19 percent, Mizuho Financial declined 1.61 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial sank 0.76 percent, Mitsubishi Electric dipped 0.24 percent, Sony Group added 0.50 percent, Panasonic Holdings perked 0.26 percent and Hitachi was up 0.24 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly upbeat as the major averages opened solidly higher on Friday and stayed that way throughout the trading day, ending near session highs.

The Dow jumped 334.73 points or 0.78 percent to finish at 43,487.83, while the NASDAQ rallied 291.90 points or 1.51 percent to close at 19.630.20 and the S&P 500 advanced 59.30 points or 1.00 percent to end at 5,996.66.

For the week, the Dow soared 3.7 percent, the S&P jumped 2.9 percent and the NASDAQ climbed 2.5 percent.

Stocks benefitted from the recent decrease by treasury yields even as the yield on the benchmark ten-year note recovered from an early slump to end the day roughly flat. The recent retreat by treasury yields came as the U.S. inflation data released over the past few days led to renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

Adding to the interest rate optimism, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller told CNBC the central bank could lower interest rates multiple times this year if inflation eases as he is expecting.

Crude oil prices showed a notable move to the downside on Friday, extending the sharp pullback seen in the previous session. West Texas Intermediate for February delivery was down $0.80 or 1 percent to $77.88 a barrel on Friday; for the week, crude rose about 1 percent.

Closer to home, Japan will release November numbers for core machinery orders later this morning. Orders are expected to slip 0.7 percent on month and climb 5.6 percent on year after rising 2.1 percent on month and 5.6 percent on year in October.

Japan also will see final November figures for industrial production and the tertiary industry activity index. Previously, production was down 2.3 percent on month, while the tertiary index had a score of 0.30.

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