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TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese stocks fell on Thursday as technology shares mirrored the Nasdaq’s overnight decline, while financial shares rose amid bets the Bank of Japan will hike interest rates.
The Nikkei was down 0.83% at 38,033.22 by the afternoon break, while the broader Topix slipped 0.34% to 2,689.07.
“Chip-related stocks fell as U.S. equities fell, but overall the market struggled to find signs of a turnaround after Nvidia reported its earnings,” said Shingo Ide, chief equity strategist at NLI Research Institute. ”
The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed lower on Wednesday, taking a break from the previous session’s rally, as investors worried about escalating Russia-Ukraine tensions and Target’s weak results.
AI chipmaker Nvidia fell 0.76% during the trading session ahead of its results on Wednesday and fell further after the bell when its fourth-quarter revenue estimate was slightly above estimates but failed to meet some investors’ lofty expectations. .
Nvidia’s outlook is important for the Nikkei Stock Average, which is heavily influenced by chip-related stocks, such as chip-testing equipment maker Advantest.
Advantest fell 2.74% on Thursday and chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron fell 0.05%.
Technology start-up investor SoftBank Group fell 1.86%.
Financial stocks rose as bets on a policy rate hike by the BOJ pushed yields higher. Mizuho Financial Group became the biggest support for the Topix index, rising 1.69%.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group rose 0.3% and insurer Tokio Marine Holdings rose 0.6%.
Japanese government bond yields rose on Thursday, with the five-year bond yield reaching 0.725%, its highest level since August 2009.
Overnight index swaps indicated a 47.67% chance of the BOJ raising rates by 0.5% at its December policy meeting.
Tokyo Gas rose 5.21% to become the biggest percentage gainer on the Nikkei, after rising 13% in the previous session. US activist investor Elliott Management has picked up a 5.03% stake in the country’s largest city gas provider.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
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