The Nikkei Average remained soft throughout the day on the 20th as selling focused on AI-related stocks. The decline widened in the afternoon, and the index closed at ¥64,075.42. Concerns over AI investment continued to weigh on the market following the previous day’s US market performance.
US equities were mixed in the previous session, but views on AI-related stocks diverged broadly against the backdrop of a rebound in the Nasdaq. In response, Japanese equities again fell below their opening levels on the 20th, with the Nikkei declining from the previous day.
The Nikkei opened at ¥64,755.49, after which selling spread across AI- and semiconductor-related stocks amid concerns over AI investment. However, the decline did not ease toward the end of the morning session, with the market falling further at times on futures selling and other factors.
At the close, the Nikkei Average was down ¥841.28 from the previous day at ¥64,075.42. Trading volume on the TSE Prime Market was 2.14872 billion shares and trading value was ¥6.7992 trillion. By sector, advancing and declining stocks were mixed, although the proportion of declining stocks increased.
Among individual stocks, Fast Retailing, Terumo, Konami Group, Bandai Namco Holdings, Chugai Pharmaceutical, HOYA, Daiichi Sankyo, Olympus, Nintendo, Kikkoman, 7&i Holdings, Shionogi, Yokogawa Electric, BayCurrent and Secom rose. SoftBank Group, Tokyo Electron, Advantest, Fujikura, Ibiden, TDK, Kyocera, Kioxia Holdings, FANUC, Sumitomo Electric, Taiyo Yuden, Shin-Etsu Chemical, SCREEN Holdings, Murata Manufacturing and Trend Micro fell.