Japan's Nikkei 225 fell on Thursday, led lower by semiconductor stocks. Supply and demand trends weighed on the market as investors became cautious about the outlook for AI-related investment next year.
The Nikkei 225 fell 0.8% in Japan's stock market on Thursday to 64,128.54. Semiconductor stocks weighed on the index, while the market was affected by the reaction to Lam Research in after-hours trading and concerns over demand in China. Saito Kazuyoshi (斎藤 和良), an analyst at Iwai Cosmo Securities, said concerns over tighter Chinese regulations were prompting companies to bring forward procurement.
The Nikkei fell after rising 0.9% the previous day, while the TOPIX was flat. Services was the only advancing sector among the 33 sectors, rising 2.2%.
Semiconductor stocks weighed on the Nikkei, with some issues falling sharply, while other technology stocks generally rose. Tokyo Electron fell 4.1%, SCREEN Holdings fell 6%, Lasertec fell 2.7%, Fujikura, a cable maker for data centers, fell 3%, and SoftBank Group fell 3.1%. Meanwhile, Trend Micro rose 6.6%, SHIFT rose 9%, BayCurrent rose 5.9%, and Sony rose 2.6%.