The Tokyo stock market saw the Nikkei Stock Average open lower on Thursday as selling pressure dominated. Just before the morning close, the index briefly plunged nearly 1,500 points, dropping below 67,000 yen. Losses narrowed somewhat in the afternoon session, though aggressive bargain-hunting remained limited.

The Nikkei Stock Average closed at 67,470.69 yen, down 931.44 yen from the previous session, marking a significant decline. Trading volume on the Prime Market was estimated at 2,314.48 million shares, with trading value at approximately 10.18 trillion yen. Advancing issues numbered 433 against 1,079 declining ones, while 51 remained unchanged.

The Tokyo market remained weak throughout the day. Although the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) showed resilience while the three major U.S. indices declined on Wednesday, major semiconductor maker Broadcom fell sharply in after-hours trading following its earnings announcement, souring market sentiment. Major AI and semiconductor-related names showed a mixed performance. While headlines regarding the Middle East situation emerged intermittently, they failed to spark active buying, and the broader market declined as profit-taking following the previous session's sharp rally weighed on prices. In the afternoon session, reports of a potential policy rate hike at the Bank of Japan's June meeting and further increases thereafter momentarily spurred yen buying in the forex market, though the stock market's reaction was limited. Declining issues on the Prime Market accounted for nearly 70% of the total.

Among individual stocks, SoftBank Group Corp. <9984> fell sharply. IBIDEN CO.,LTD. <4062>, Fujikura Ltd. <5803>, Kioxia Holdings <285A>, FANUC CORPORATION <6954>, Murata Manufacturing Co.,Ltd. <6981>, and TAIYO YUDEN CO., LTD. <6976> also declined. ENEOS Holdings, Inc. <5020>, COSMO ENERGY HOLDINGS COMPANY,LIMITED <5021>, The Kansai Electric Power Company, Incorporated <9503>, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Incorporated <9501>, and TOKYO GAS CO.,LTD. <9531> finished weak. Nintendo Co., Ltd. <7974>, SONY GROUP CORPORATION <6758>, and ORIENTAL LAND CO.,LTD. <4661> also closed lower.

On the other hand, Tokyo Electron Limited <8035>, ADVANTEST CORPORATION <6857>, DISCO CORPORATION <6146>, Lasertec corporation <6920>, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries,Ltd. <7011>, and KYOCERA CORPORATION <6971> performed well. FAST RETAILING CO., LTD. <9983> was firm. TerraSky Co.,Ltd <3915> extended its rally for consecutive days, while KANTO DENKA KOGYO CO.,LTD. <4047> hit its daily limit-up. EDION Corporation <2730> jumped.

Source: MINKABU PRESS

*Translated by generative AI. Click here for the original article.