Japan's Nikkei falls in volatile trade as tech tracks Nasdaq selloff

TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average fell in choppy trade on Wednesday, weighed down by technology stocks after the tech-heavy Nasdaq posted sharp overnight losses.

The benchmark Nikkei was down 0.72% at 67,763,91, as of 0157 GMT, after flitting between a 1.66% drop and a 0.25% gain. The broader Topix index fell 0.62% to 4037.16.

Technology shares came under pressure after the Nasdaq ended sharply lower on Tuesday, dragged down by Micron Technology and other chipmakers on heightened concerns about the durability of Wall Street’s AI-driven rally.

Semiconductor stocks across Asia and the United States also weakened after memory chip giant Samsung Electronics’ earnings on Tuesday failed to meet investors’ elevated expectations, prompting profit-taking in the sector.

“Investors can not fully regain their confidence in AI shares,” said Daisuke Hashizume, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.

“Samsung Electronics flagged a strong outlook but the market was not convinced that prices will keep rising,” he said.

Shares of chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron fell 2,4%, while chip-testing equipment maker Advantest edged 0.38% lower.

Shares of high-flying Taiyo Yuden, a manufacturer of multi-layer ceramic capacitors to regulate power in AI servers, fell 6%. Memory maker Kioxia recouped early losses to trade 2% higher.

Technology investor SoftBank Group was up 0.28%.

Phone company KDDI rose 1.69% as investors rotated their target to shares sensitive to domestic demand.

Game maker Konami Group, which was beaten down on rising memory prices, rose nearly 1%.