Japan's Nikkei rises as SoftBank rebounds from AI-led selloff

TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average climbed as technology investor SoftBank Group rebounded from a selloff in the previous session, while traders reassessed calls by executives in US artificial intelligence companies for a slowdown in AI development.

The Nikkei recouped early losses to rise roughly 1% to 64,082.36 by the midday break.

The broader Topix was flat at 4,057.06. Shares of SoftBank surged 9.13%, recouping part of the previous session’s 10.7% loss after a selloff in AI-linked stocks sparked by warnings from industry leaders about the technology’s risks.

“Japan was the first market that was hit by the warning from the AI leaders in the previous session,” said Kazuaki Shimada, chief strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities.

“The morning after, investors thought it was too early to judge the fate of the pace of AI investments by hyperscalers,” he said.

Memory maker Kioxia rose 2.73%.

Shares of chip-related Advantest and Tokyo Electron rose 0.8% and 0.33%, respectively.

Leopalace21 was untraded amid a glut of buy orders after the apartment operator said Hikari Tsushin, together with investment funds, will launch a 1,000-yen-per-share tender offer for the company.

The Topix slipped as gains in AI-related shares curbed demand for value stocks.

Bank shares fell, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group losing 0.83% and 1.98%, respectively.

Sony Group fell 1.08%. Of more than 1,500 stocks trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s prime market, 57% rose, 38% fell and 4% traded flat.