TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average fell on Wednesday, a day after it logged a sharp gain, as software developers tracked a sell-off in their global peers.
The Nikkei fell 0.78 percent to 54,293.36. It climbed nearly 4percent to a record high on Tuesday, its biggest daily gain since October 25. The broader Topix ended 0.27percent higher at 3,655.58.
Software and system developers fell, with NEC tanking 11.79 percent. Nomura Research and Fujitsu losing more than 7 percent each. A significant sell-off among US and European data analytics, professional services and software companies deepened overnight, with some investors pointing to a recently updated artificial intelligence chatbot by Anthropic as the main culprit.
“These local companies did not react to a sell-off of software firms that took place some time ago in the US But finally today they were hit by the wave,” said Shuutarou Yasuda, a market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory.
Chip-related shares fell, with Advantest and Tokyo Electron losing more than 2 percent each and dragging the Nikkei the most. Recruit Holdings, which owns job-searching firm Indeed, slumped 10percent.