The Nikkei 225 secured a gain over the previous day’s close at the afternoon session opening on the 8th, with buying of semiconductor-related stocks supporting the market. Among individual stocks, Advantest, Tokyo Electron and SoftBank Group drove market moves.
The Nikkei 225 opened higher against the previous day’s close at the start of the afternoon session, carrying forward the morning’s buying of semiconductor-related stocks. Market participants focused on the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index as a market factor, and semiconductor stocks were generally seen as supporting the market.
At the morning close, the Nikkei 225 was slightly higher while TOPIX was down. Gainers and decliners were mixed by stock, with trading volume exceeding 900 million shares and trading value coming to approximately ¥3.9778 trillion. Information and communications, and oil and rubber products were among the sectors that rose, while transportation equipment and precision instruments declined.
At 10:15 a.m., the Nikkei 225 was temporarily down more than ¥600 before returning to positive territory on buybacks. SoftBank Group, Advantest and Tokyo Electron were seen as factors pushing the Nikkei 225 up by approximately ¥600 in total. Some market participants viewed the stronger yen and higher oil prices as weighing on overall market sentiment.