The Nikkei average was trading around ¥560 higher than the previous day during the morning session on the 18th, moving at around ¥64,700. Buying of semiconductor shares in the U.S. market supported the market.
Market participants said the Nikkei average was holding around ¥560 above the previous day’s level on the morning of the 18th, trading at around ¥64,700. In the U.S. market, technology stocks, led by semiconductor shares, were bought, and the NY Dow and Nasdaq Composite rebounded for the first time in four sessions. Nikkei futures were also trading near their highs, reaching ¥64,851.88 at 9:19 a.m., but aggressive buying was limited ahead of the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy meeting.
By sector, 6 of the 32 sectors rose and 27 fell. Gainers included Kioxia and Ibiden among electrical equipment shares, Mitsui Kinzoku and Mitsubishi Materials among nonferrous metal shares, and Nitto Boseki and Tokai Kance among glass and ceramics shares. SUMCO and Nissan Steel-related shares in metal products, Nittetsu Mining and INPEX in mining, and Takeda Pharmaceutical and Chugai Pharmaceutical in pharmaceuticals also performed well. Meanwhile, electric power and gas, food, banking and wholesale shares were generally weak.
Among individual stocks, Adocri, Samco, Furuya Metal, NDK and Hirata Corporation rose. On the other hand, Anycolor, Shikoku Electric Power, Chubu Steel Plate, RideRI Corporation and Sho-Bond, among others, fell. In the foreign exchange market, USD/JPY was trading in the lower half of the ¥156 range and EUR/JPY in the lower half of the ¥179 range as of 10 a.m.
The news was distributed as a report from Wealth Advisor Co., Ltd.