TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average rose more than 1 percent on Friday, driven by index heavyweight tech stocks, and marked an eighth weekly gain in nine on positive expectations for fiscal dove Sanae Takaichi’s new government.
The Nikkei closed 1.35 percent higher at 49,299.65 after a sharp drop in the previous session. The broader Topix rose 0.48 percent to 3,269.45.
For the week, the Nikkei has risen 3.6 percent and the Topix has gained 3.1 percent.
“Investors scooped up technology stocks that became cheap in the past several sessions,” said Shuutarou Yasuda, a market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory.
The Nikkei hovered near a record high, driven by a rally in AI-related stocks and buoyed by bets of economic stimulus from Takaichi, who was elected as Japan’s prime minister this week.
“Shares that move the Nikkei are rotating. Even as AI-related shares decline, investors scoop up other shares that are riding on the Takaichi trade,” said Yasuda.
On Thursday, technology shares sent the Nikkei lower, while investors snapped up defence stocks on bet that the new government would increase defence spending.
On Friday, technology investor SoftBank Group jumped 5.69 percent to become the biggest boost for the Nikkei. Chip-related Advantest and Tokyo Electron gained 3.74 percent and 1.82 percent, respectively.
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