India, April 30 -- The Japanese stock market has finished higher in five straight sessions, rallying almost 1,850 points or 5 percent along the way. The Nikkei 225 now sits just beneath the 36,050-point plateau and it's likely to hold steady in that neighborhood again on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests slight upside on an improved outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The Nikkei finished modestly higher on Wednesday as gains from the financial shares and technology stocks were capped by weakness from the automobile producers.
For the day, the index jumped 205.39 points or 0.57 percent ...