In the Tokyo market on the 28th, the Nikkei average extended its gains from the open, surging as high as ¥900 as buying concentrated in AI and semiconductor stocks. The gain widened after the morning session, with ADVANTEST, Tokyo Electron and SoftBank Group lifting the Nikkei average by approximately ¥450.
On the 28th, the Nikkei Stock Average opened at ¥63,738.98, up ¥470.61 from the previous business day, then rose by more than ¥800 and at one point by more than ¥900. Buying in AI- and semiconductor-related stocks led the market, following gains in technology stocks in the US market.
In morning trading, the Nikkei average remained up by around ¥797, with ADVANTEST, Tokyo Electron and SoftBank Group among the stocks posting the largest gains. The 3 stocks alone lifted the Nikkei average by approximately ¥450. ADVANTEST and Tokyo Electron opened with unexecuted buy orders, while SoftBank Group also rose.
The strength in semiconductor stocks was attributed in part to growing expectations of an IPO by AI developer Anthropic, with developments in the US market spilling over into the Tokyo market. At the end of the morning session, the Nikkei average stood at ¥64,067.10, up ¥798.73 from the previous day.
Buying did not spread across the market as a whole, however, and TOPIX remained slightly lower, down 0.84 points at 3,996.53. Financial stocks included a notable number of weak performers, while some investors were also taking a wait-and-see stance ahead of the start of the earnings announcement season.