Japan's Nikkei rises as Anthropic IPO filing lifts AI-shares

TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average rose on Tuesday, as Anthropic’s IPO filing and gains in the US semiconductor index lifted local AI-related stocks.

The Nikkei was up 1.91% to 63,374.45 as of 0142 GMT, after rising as much as 2.4% earlier in the session.

The index is set to snap a three-session losing streak if this momentum holds.

The broader Topix rose 0.61% to 3,997.09.

“The market was relieved by the news about Anthropic’s IPO, while heavyweight technology stocks tracked a rise in the US chip index,” said Daisuke Hashizume, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.

Chip-testing equipment maker Advantest surged 10%, providing the biggest boost to the Nikkei.

Technology investor SoftBank Group rose 6.94%. Chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron was up 3.35%.

Anthropic disclosed steep losses and red-hot revenue growth in its filing for a US initial public offering, laying out its ambition to build AI systems capable of reshaping the global economy despite the high costs of developing the technology.

The US broader Philadelphia chips index rose 2.8% overnight.

The Nikkei index tends to move with the SOX index.

“But overall, only half of the stocks rose.

Investors were cautious about actively buying stocks ahead of earnings of US hyperscalers such as Alphabet and Microsoft this week,“ Hashizume said.

Of more than 1,500 stocks trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s prime market, 49% rose, 47% fell and 2% traded flat.

Drug maker Daiichi Sankyo fell 6.53%, weighing most heavily on the Nikkei, and was the index’s biggest percentage loser.