Japan’s Nikkei 225 index opened above its record closing high on Thursday, and remained within sight of new intraday peaks as hype over artificial intelligence drove strong gains in the technology sector.
The Nikkei 225 opened up 1.8% at 38,920 points- crossing its 1989 record closing high of 38,915 points, and coming within spitting distance of an intraday peak of 38,957.44 points.
The Japanese benchmark index traded at a 34-year peak. The broader TOPIX index rose 0.7% and also traded near 34-year highs.
Gains on the Nikkei were driven chiefly by heavyweight technology stocks, as consensus-beating fourth-quarter earnings from AI darling NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) drummed up hype over an AI-led boost for the sector in the coming months.
Chipmakers and chip-adjacent stocks were among the top performers on the Nikkei. Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857)- which is also an Nvidia supplier- rose 4.2%, while Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TYO:8035)- Japan’s most valuable chipmaker- rose 3.4%. Chipmaker Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. (TYO:7735) was the top gainer on the Nikkei with a 7.8% surge.
SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:9984), which is exposed to the chipmaking sector through its British chip designing unit Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM), surged 4.3%. Arm jumped nearly 8% in aftermarket trade, tracking gains in Nvidia.
But gains in the Nikkei somewhat cooled after the open, with the index trading up 1.1% at 38,730.0 points by 19:46 ET (00:46 GMT).
The index curbed a bulk of its initial gains after purchasing managers index data showed both manufacturing and services activity worsened in February, ramping up concerns over slowing Japanese economic growth.
Still, weakness in the Japanese economy is expected to largely delay the Bank of Japan’s plans to begin raising interest rates. An ultra-dovish BOJ was a key point of support for Japanese stocks over the past two years. – Investing.com
