Nikkei 225 knocking into highs near 22,400, but hesitation is capping gains

• Asia stocks rally in early Thursday action, but hesitate and give up the day's gains.
• The emager gains held onto through the session owe to a rally in energies.

The Nikkei 225 index walked upwards into fresh highs in the early overnight session near 22,350.00, extending yesterday's run, but walked it back through Tokyo trading to finish the day off near 22,250.00.

Asia stocks opened the day on a high note as risk rallies hit the broad markets, but the Asia indexes second-guessed themselves following dismal jobs reports from Australia and continued tensions from the Middle East, this time spurred on by Saudi Arabia, who moved the goalposts on OPEC's current production-cutting strategy, and are determined to see oil back up to $80 or even $100 per barrel. Energies rallied on the news, but Asia risk bulls are balking at the price disruption strategy, and the Nikkei is wrestling back lower in the off-market.

Nikkei Levels to watch

With the Nikkei pricing in a turnaround at the day's high, immediate resistance will be greeting bulls at 22,350.00, with further resistance at February's swing high of 22,500.00, while a bearish correction will face support from the last resistance-turned-support zone at 21,920.00, with further support priced in from April's open at 21,460.00.