Japan Stock Market May Extend Thursday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The Japanese stock market on Thursday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped almost 2,550 points or 4 percent. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 65,680-point plateau and it may take further damage on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of key U.S. jobs data, and on a spike in crude oil prices. The European markets were flat and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The Nikkei finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the technology stocks and automobile producers.

For the day, the index slumped 617.18 points or 0.93 percent to finish at 65,683.26 after trading between 64,942.07 and 65,983.13.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened higher on Thursday but quickly slipped into the red and remained there for the balance of the day.

The Dow dropped 464.02 points or 0.85 percent to finish at 53,885.10, while the NASDAQ dipped 15.09 points or 0.06 percent to close at 16,348.35 and the S&P 500 sank 13.59 points or 0.18 percent to end at 7,709.96.

The choppy trading by the broader markets came as traders were reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report later today.

The report is expected to show employment jumped by 88,000 jobs in July after climbing by 57,000 jobs in June, and it may have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates.