The Nikkei 225 extended its winning streak to 3 days, with buying in semiconductor-related stocks pushing up the index during the morning session. While caution over the US market's reaction remained, the weaker yen and stronger dollar supported export-related stocks.
The Nikkei 225 extended its winning streak to 3 days, ending the morning session higher. It closed ¥482.90 above the previous day at ¥60,942.48, with estimated trading volume of approximately 1.19902 billion shares. Although the Dow and Nasdaq both fell sharply in the previous day's US market, buying in semiconductor-related stocks pushed up the index in Japan.
In the US market, an upside surprise in the consumer price index (CPI) and hawkish-leaning comments from senior Federal Reserve officials were reported, raising concerns over higher long-term US interest rates. Against this backdrop, the yen weakened and the dollar strengthened in intraday foreign-exchange trading, providing relative support for export-related stocks.
Among individual stocks, Advantest and Tokyo Electron ranked among the largest contributors to the gains, while SoftBank Group's decline weighed on the market. In the afternoon session, attention turned to the possibility that movements in semiconductor-related stocks and stocks ahead of earnings announcements could determine the Nikkei 225's direction.
By sector, textiles, securities and commodity futures, and banking rose, while transportation equipment, information and communications, and land transportation fell. Toward the end of the session, movements in semiconductor-related stocks and reactions to corporate earnings were expected to influence the index's direction.