Japan’s Nikkei tracks Wall Street decline, SoftBank Group falls

TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average fell on Friday, weighed down by Wall Street’s overnight losses, with SoftBank Group leading the decline.

The Nikkei fell 0.72% to 57,226.59 by the midday break, but is set to rise 5.5% in its second consecutive weekly gain.

The broader Topix slipped 0.97% to 3,844.59 and is set to rise 3.9% for the week.

Wall Street indexes fell sharply on Thursday, with the technology-heavy Nasdaq slumping 2%, as investors intensified their selloff of tech shares and fled transport stocks amid worries about artificial intelligence disruption. SoftBank Group slipped 6.46% to become the biggest drag on the Nikkei, even as the technology investor booked a fourth consecutive quarterly profit on Thursday, helped by the rising valuation of its OpenAI investment.

Its stock shaved 243 points off the Nikkei, which lost 413 points. “There was little positive surprise from the results, so SoftBank shares fell along with the market move,” said Shigetoshi Kamada, an advisor at the research department at Tachibana Securities.

On the other hand, chip-related heavyweights rose, with Advantest and Tokyo Electron rising 1.29% and 2.98%, respectively.

Nissan Motor jumped 7.47% to become the biggest percentage gainer on the Nikkei, after the struggling automaker sharply trimmed its outlook for a full-year loss and reported a surprise profit in the third quarter.

“All the bad news was out from the automaker, and there was a sign for a turnaround,” Kamada said, adding that investors bought Nissan shares on Friday to cover their short positions.

Inpex slumped 10.98% after the nation’s biggest oil and gas producer flagged a 16% decline in its annual net profit for the year to December.

Of more than 1,600 stocks trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s prime market, 81% fell, 16% rose and 1% traded flat.