(RTTNews) – The Japan stock market on Wednesday ended the four-day losing streak in which it had stumbled more than 1,050 points or 1.9 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just beneath the 57,150-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, supported by technology and oil stocks. The European and US. Markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.
The Nikkei finished sharply higher on Wednesday as the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers were mostly in the green.
For the day, the index climbed 577.35 points or 1.02 percent to finish at 57,143.84 after trading between 56,734.27 and 57,392.89.
Among the actives, Nissan Motor skidded 1.03 percent, while Mazda Motor added 0.43 percent, Toyota Motor gained 0.46 percent, Honda Motor accelerated 0.76 percent, Softbank Group tanked 2.76 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial collected 2.61 percent, Mizuho Financial was up 0.47 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial rallied 2.83 percent, Mitsubishi Electric spiked 2.89 percent, Sony Group shed 0.43 percent, Panasonic Holdings surged 5.38 percent and Hitachi rose 0.31 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday, slumped later in the day but still moved solidly back to the upside by the close.
The Dow gained 129.47 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 49,662.66, while the NASDAQ jumped 175.25 points or 0.78 percent to close at 22,753.63 and the S&P 500 added 38.09 points or 0.56 percent to end at 6,881.31.
The early strength on Wall Street came as shares of Nvidia (NVDA) surged after the AI chipmaker announced a multi-year, multi-generational strategic partnership with Facebook parent Meta (META) spanning on-premises, cloud and AI infrastructure.
Positive sentiment was also generated some upbeat U.S. economic data, including a Federal Reserve report showing industrial production increased more than expected in January.
However, stocks pulled back off their highs after the release of the minutes of the Fed’s latest monetary policy meeting, which said officials remain divided on the outlook for interest rates.
Crude oil prices skyrocketed on Wednesday after reports that Iran failed to address core U.S. demands in nuclear talks earlier this week. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery soared $2.73 or 4.4 percent to $64.99 a barrel.
Closer to home, Japan will provide December data for core machinery order later this morning, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 5.1 percent on month and 3.9 percent on year. That follows the 11.0 percent monthly contraction and the 6.4 percent yearly decline in November.
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