Thursday May 8, 02:08 AM
Tokyo shares outlook - Lower on Wall Street fall after oil price surges
TOKYO (Thomson Financial) - Japanese shares are expected to open lower on Thursday with a downturn on Wall Street overnight seen hurting sentiment and triggering selling among short-term investors who typically track price movements on the U.S.
stock market.
Light (LIGT3.SA - news) sweet crude soared to a record near $124 before settling at $123.53 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up $1.69, creating uncertainty about consumer spending and the U.S. economy.
'Investors feel that unless the U.S. stock market makes clear headway, it will be difficult to send the Nikkei 225 (news) index sharply above the 14,000 point level,' Shinko Securities strategist Tsuyoshi Segawa said.
'There is an emerging view that because the Standard & Poor's 500 index has effectively regained nearly half of its year-to-date low and last year's high, the U.S. stock market will take a breather shortly,' he said.
Investors are also likely to refrain from building fresh positions amid the ongoing reporting season, with nearly 50 percent of listed companies set to report their results in the next week.
On Wall Street on Wednesday, the Dow fell 206.48 points or 1.59 percent to 12,814.35, while the Nasdaq composite (NASDAQ: news) index fell 44.82 points or 1.80 percent to 2,438.49.
The Chicago-traded Nikkei futures contract settled at 13,960 points, down from 14,170 points on the Osaka Securities Exchange on Wednesday and suggesting a weak start for the market.
On the Tokyo bourse on Wednesday, the Nikkei 225 Stock Average closed up 53.22 points or 0.4 percent at 14,102.48, while the broader Topix index rose 15.89 points or 1.2 percent to 1,393.28.
Ahead, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, Asahi Kasei (Frankfurt: 857993 - news) , Toyota Motor (Frankfurt: 853510 - news) , Softbank (Xetra: 891624 - news) and Olympus (Munich: 856840 - news) will releases earnings results for year ended March 31.
Showa Shell Sekiyu and Bridgestone (Berlin: BGT.BE - news) will releases earnings results for the January-March quarter.
Stocks to watch include Honda Motor (Paris: JP3854600008 - news) following a report that Japan's second-largest automaker by revenue will increase dealerships in China to 700 by the end of this year and boost annual output capacity by about 20 percent.
($1 = 104.77 yen)
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