19.02.202600:44:39UTC+00Japanese Shares Gain on Wall Street Boost

The Nikkei 225 climbed 0.7% to above 57,500, while the broader Topix advanced 0.4% to 3,822 on Thursday, extending the previous session’s gains. The move higher tracked a strong rally on Wall Street, where technology shares rebounded.

Sentiment improved as worries about potential AI-related disruptions eased and investors largely shrugged off hawkish signals from the US Federal Reserve. The recent pullback in software stocks increasingly came to be seen as a buying opportunity, with stock pickers focusing on identifying prospective winners and losers in the AI space.

Japanese equities also drew support from a sharp depreciation of the yen, which bolsters the earnings outlook for the country’s export-oriented sectors. Technology stocks led the advance, with notable gains in Kioxia Holdings (2.3%), Advantest (2.2%), Fujikura (2.6%), Disco Corp (4%), and Tokyo Electron (3.3%).