No Help Yet For Japan Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, declining almost 500 points or 1.3 percent in that span. The Nikkei 225 now rests just above the 39,360-point plateau and it may take further damage again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of the FOMC's interest rate decision later today. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion, although bargain hunting may take hold later in the day.

The Nikkei 225 finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the automobile producers and mixed performances from the financial shares and technology stocks.

For the day, the index sank 92.81 point or 0.24 percent to finish at the daily low of 39,364.68 after peaking at 39,796.22.

Among the actives, Nissan Motor tanked 3.93 percent, while Mazda Motor retreated 1.27 percent, Toyota Motor sank 0.72 percent, Honda Motor fell 0.31 percent, Softbank Group rallied 4.42 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial tumbled 1.94 percent, Mizuho Financial shed 0.81 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mitsubishi Electric surrendered 2.02 percent, Sony Group jumped 1.68 percent, Panasonic Holdings lost 0.65 percent and Hitachi rose 0.28 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow tumbled 267.58 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 43,449.90, while the NASDAQ sank 64.83 points or 0.32 percent to close at 20,109.06 and the S&P 500 lost 23.47 points or 0.39 percent to end at 6,050.61.

The weakness on Wall Street reflected a pullback by technology stocks, which had led the way higher in the previous session - particularly among the networking and semiconductor stocks. Telecom, financial, housing and steel stocks also moved to the downside.

Meanwhile, traders continued to look ahead to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement later today. While the Fed is widely expected to lower rates by another quarter-point, traders will pay close attention to the Fed's statement and latest economic projections, including their forecasts for rates.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday amid concerns about the outlook for global demand, and possible excess supply in the market next year. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for January ended down $0.63 or 0.9 percent at $70.08 a barrel.

Closer to home, Japan will on Wednesday release November numbers for imports, exports and trade balance later this morning. Imports are expected to rise 1.0 percent on year, up from 0.4 percent in October. Exports are called higher by an annual 2.8 percent, easing from 3.1 percent in the previous month. The trade deficit is pegged at 688.9 billion yen following the 462.1 billion yen shortfall a month earlier.