Japan’s Nikkei rises 1%, tech shares seen involved in $550bn US deal gain

TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average rose on Wednesday, set to snap a four-day losing streak, as technology firms that are seen as involved in Japan’s $550 billion US investment project gained.

The Nikkei rose 1% to 57,131.89 as of 0135 GMT and the broader Topix was up 1.35% at 3,812.39.

President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday announced three projects valued at $36 billion to be financed by Japan, including an oil export facility in Texas, an industrial diamonds plant in Georgia, and a natural gas power plant in Ohio.

The projects are the first investments under Japan’s $550 billion US investment pledge as part of a trade deal that cut Trump’s tariffs on Japanese imports to 15%.

“Investors have been buying those stocks related to the Trump deal in the past several days,” said Takamasa Ikeda, senior portfolio manager at GCI Asset Management.

Electronic components TDK jumped 6.67%, while fibre optic cable makers Fujikura and Furukawa Electric rose 3.2% and 2.75%, respectively.

Technology investor SoftBank Group, which is expected to be part of the project, fell 1.89% after the artificial intelligence sector was excluded from the list of initial projects.

Other decliners included memory chip maker Kioxia, which slipped 3.64% to track a 5.7% drop in US memory chip maker Sandisk overnight.

Chip-testing equipment maker Advantest fell 0.84%.

Financial stocks rose, becoming the largest contributor to the Topix’s gain.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group rose more than 3% each. Mizuho Financial Group gained 1.8%.

Of more than 1,600 stocks trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s prime market, 76% rose, and 20% fell, while 3% traded flat.