TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average ended at a three-week low on Thursday, pressured by heavyweight tech stocks as investors weighed the outlook for artificial intelligence and data centre businesses.
The Nikkei fell 1.03 percent to 49,001.5, its lowest close since November 25. The broader Topix slipped 0.37 percent to 3,356.89.
Wall Street’s main indexes closed lower on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq sinking to three-week lows as nagging worries about the artificial intelligence trade weighed on technology stocks.
“The market’s concerns about the profitability of AI-related businesses and data centres in the US have been coming to the surface,” said Kazuaki Shimada, chief strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities.
“Japan is not an exception because there are so many data centres being constructed in the country.”
SoftBank Group fell 3.76 percent after Oracle dropped 5.4 percent following a report that said the cloud company’s largest data centre partner Blue Owl Capital will not back a USD10 billion deal for its next facility.