TOKYO (dpa-AFX) - The Japanese stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, improving almost 550 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now sits just above the 39,060-point plateau and it may add to its winnings again on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests support ahead of key U.S. employment data later in the day. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The Nikkei finished modestly higher on Thursday following mixed performances from the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers.
For the day, the index advanced 235.05 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 39,066.53 after trading between 38,851.51 and 39,190.13.
Among the actives, Nissan Motor surged 7.29 percent, while Mazda Motor advanced 0.96 percent, Toyota Motor stumbled 2.01 percent, Honda Motor plunged 4.00 percent, Softbank Group collected 0.98 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial dropped 0.91 percent, Mizuho Financial perked 0.17 percent, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial shed 0.45 percent, Mitsubishi Electric lost 0.47 percent, Sony Group was up 0.11 percent, Panasonic Holdings rallied 2.16 percent and Hitachi rose 0.25 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened higher, although the Dow quickly turned lower and spent the rest of the day in the red.
The Dow stumbled 125.65 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 44,747.63, while the NASDAQ advanced 99.66 points or 0.51 percent to close at 19.971.99 and the S&P 500 added 22.09 points or 0.36 percent to end at 6,083.57.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report later today.
Traders will be watching the numbers, which could affect the Federal Reserve's outlook for interest rates.
A day ahead of the monthly jobs report, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week.
Crude oil saw further downside on Thursday as U.S. President Donald Trump repeated his pledge to increase U.S. oil production in an effort to lower prices. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery slid $0.42 or 0.6 percent to a one-month low of $70.61 a barrel.
Closer to home, Japan will release December figures for household spending and its leading and coincident indexes later this morning.
Spending is expected to slip 0.5 percent on month but rise 0.5 percent on year after rising 0.4 percent on month and falling 0.4 percent on year in November. The leading index in November was down 1.6 percent on month and the coincident slipped 1.4 percent.
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