Japan’s Nikkei changes course to inch lower as SoftBank Group falls
- The Nikkei was down 0.1% at 50,554.10
TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average reversed early gains to inch down on Thursday, as SoftBank Group tracked sharp declines in Oracle after the US tech giant missed Wall Street’s forecasts.
The Nikkei was down 0.1% at 50,554.10, as of 0144 GMT, after rising as much as 0.5% earlier in the session.
The broader Topix fell 0.17% to 3,383.12. SoftBank Group dropped 5.17% to track Oracle’s more than 11% decline in extended trading after the US tech giant’s sales and profit forecast missed Wall Street expectations.
Earlier this year, SoftBank Group, along with Oracle and Open AI, announced plans to develop artificial intelligence data centers in the U.S to build out their ambitious Stargate project.
“The Nikkei opened higher to track overnight Wall Street’s rises, but the gains were erased by declines of SoftBank Group,” Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory market analyst Shuutarou Yasuda said.
“The earnings of Oracle raised concerns if the data centre project, in which SoftBank Group is involved, would proceed as expected,” he said.
Overnight, Wall Street ended higher, after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points as expected and investors bet on further easing down the road, even as the US central bank signaled that it will put further cuts on pause for now.
In Japan, other technology stocks fell, with chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron slipping 0.75%. Silicon wafer maker Shin-Etsu Chemical declined 1.83% and a robot maker Fanuc lost 1.48%.
On the other hand, bank shares rose, with Mizuho Financial Group rising 0.53% and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group climbing 0.62%.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange’s value share index was flat, while the growth share index slipped 0.32%.
Bucking the trend, chip-testing equipment maker Advantest jumped 4.49%.
Printing firm Toppan Holdings rose 5.3% to become the Nikkei’s top percentage gainer.
Of the more than 1,600 shares trading on the TSE’s prime market, 25% rose, 70% fell, and 4% traded flat.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.