During trading in the morning session on the 31st, funds were reported as potentially shifting from semiconductor and AI-related stocks to software and financial stocks against the backdrop of trends in the U.S. market. AIDA ENGINEERING's first-quarter results and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' new productivity improvements were also reported.
The Nikkei Average was expected to trade in line with the morning session's trend, with the market focused on assessing semiconductor stocks in response to developments in the U.S. market. While selling could lead the market at times depending on trends in the futures market, against the backdrop of movements in Chicago Nikkei 225 futures and the foreign exchange market, the market was expected to remain within a range during the day.
In the U.S. market, weakness in semiconductor stocks such as NVIDIA was a focus of attention, and the performance of stocks including Advantest, Tokyo Electron and SoftBank Group was expected to be a key market focus. Meanwhile, Salesforce showed strong price action, and attention centered on whether retail investor funds would continue flowing into small- and mid-cap software-related stocks.
AIDA ENGINEERING's consolidated results for the first quarter of the fiscal year ending March 2027 showed revenue of ¥15.347 billion, down 17.3% year on year, and operating profit of ¥457 million, down 63.9%. The decline in sales of high-speed presses was a factor. For the full year, the company plans revenue of ¥80 billion and operating profit of ¥5.7 billion.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Compressor announced improvements to the productivity of its CO2 compressors and disclosed initiatives to triple its commissioning capacity. These measures were expected to improve the efficiency of related equipment and parts.