TOKYO, March 10 – Japan’s Nickelco shares rebounded in a rough trade on Monday as major semiconductor-related stocks tracked earnings from their U.S. peers, while investors snapped up the deal after last week’s heavy losses, even as fast-changing tariff policies restricted the index’s rise.
Nikkei briefly glided to its lowest intraday level since 36,705.02 since September 18, but early losses rose to 0.6% to 37,095.85 at lunch break.
The wider Topix rose 0.2% to 2,714.54.
Nikkei’s rebound was the third consecutive week of decline, with the benchmark down more than 2%.
Chip test equipment manufacturers have the best advantage over 2.7%, which offers the biggest boost as Japanese chip-related stocks gained growth from U.S. technology stocks last week.
The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index scored 3.2% on Friday, performing well on Wall Street earnings, with U.S. stocks rebounding from early declines after Fed chairman Jerome Powell said the economy was “in a good position.”
However, global uncertainty continues to put pressure on emotions. In a Fox News interview Sunday, President Donald Trump refused to rule out concerns in stock markets about his tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China on fentanyl, which increased the possibility of investors’ uneasiness.
Nomura Securities strategist Maki Sawada said that during the Asian trade period, U.S. stock futures fell during the Asian trade period, which could weigh on Nikkei, and tariff concerns have caused some turmoil in the market.
“Overall, caution on Trump’s tariff policies and retaliatory taxation are dragging down,” she said.
Lasertec made inspection equipment for chip manufacturing, jumping 6.5% to become Nikkei’s biggest percentage winner, followed by industrial automation systems maker SMC Corp, which won nearly 6%.
Among other stocks, AI-centric startup investor SoftBank Group rose 2.1%, chip manufacturing equipment giant Tokyo Electronics rose 1.8%, and chip testing equipment maker Disco Corp rose to 4.9%.
This article was generated from the Automation News Agency feed without the text being modified.
