Japan Bourse May Spin Its Wheels On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market rebounded on Tuesday, one session after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had added more than 370 points or 0.7 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just shy of the 54,250-point plateau although it may sputter on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is fairly flat as traders await further developments in the Middle East conflict. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets are likely to follow the latter lead.

The Nikkei finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares, automobile producers and technology stocks.

For the day, the index soared 1,519.67 points or 2.88 percent to finish at 54,248.39 after trading between 53,487.19 and 54,694.89. Among the actives, Nissan Motor accelerated 2.81 percent, while Mazda Motor rallied 2.20 percent, Toyota Motor vaulted 2.36 percent, Honda Motor improved 0.86 percent, Softbank Group jumped 2.57 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial collected 2.12 percent, Mizuho Financial soared 4.45 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Panasonic Holdings both expanded 2.80 percent, Mitsubishi Electric strengthened 3.48 percent, Sony Group climbed 1.70 percent and Hitachi surged 4.54 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened lower but quickly moved higher and spent most of the day in the green before a late fade saw them end mixed and little changed.

The Dow dipped 34.29 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 47,706.51, while the NASDAQ perked 1.16 points or 0.01 percent to close at 22,697.10 and the S&P 500 fell 14.51 points or 0.21 percent to end at 6,781.48.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came amid substantial volatility by the price of crude oil, with crude for April delivery plummeting almost 12 percent after soaring to nearly $120 a barrel on Monday.

Crude oil prices plunged on Tuesday after Trump said that the ongoing war would end "very soon" but provided no details. The conflict has driven oil prices to sky-high levels in recent days. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery tumbled $9.47 or 9.99 percent at $85.30 per barrel.

Traders also seemed to be expressing some uncertainty about the U.S. war with Iran after President Donald Trump's latest remarks about the conflict.

The president claimed in a subsequent post on Truth Social that Iran would be hit "twenty times harder" if they do anything that stops the flow of oil within the Strait of Hormuz.