Japan’s Nikkei share gauge advanced for a third consecutive session on Wednesday, as data and earnings reports rekindled a degree of optimism within the beleaguered AI sector. The benchmark Nikkei 225 advanced by 1.31%, closing at 61,248.59. The broader Topix increased by 0.92%, reaching a level of 3,929.39. In November, a poll indicated that Japanese manufacturers’ sentiment reached its highest point in over five years, driven by robust demand for semiconductors that supported widespread optimism. US stocks experienced a decline overnight, influenced by inflation data that exceeded expectations, thereby heightening anticipations for a potential rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
In a separate announcement after market hours, AI cloud company CoreWeave projected that it would achieve profitability on an adjusted basis in the first half of 2028. Source reported that ChatGPT operator OpenAI’s quarterly revenue increased by approximately 50% to $10 billion, despite the company continuing to incur significant operating losses. Global AI-related shares experienced a significant decline last week amid apprehensions that the US Congress might impede investment in the sector, a sentiment heightened by the Democrats’ decisive win in the midterm elections.
Investor attention is now directed toward the upcoming third-quarter earnings report from Nvidia, a key player in the AI sector, as noted by Wataru Akiyama. “If they are strong enough to dispel concerns about the earnings of these AI and semiconductor-related stocks, then that impact will likely spread to Japan’s major AI-related companies as well,” Akiyama said. “This could serve as one of the catalysts for a recovery in those stock prices.” SoftBank Group, a prominent AI investor in Japan, announced after the market closed on Tuesday that it experienced a net loss of 1.1 trillion yen in the second quarter.
Its shares closed 0.44% lower after experiencing a decline of more than 10% earlier in the session. There were 140 advancers on the Nikkei 225 compared to 85 decliners. The largest percentage gainers in the index were Kokusai Electric, up 10.17%, followed by Sumco, 9.31% higher, and Furukawa Electric, which gained 8.01%. The largest losers were Sapporo Holdings, declining by 7.16%, followed by Tokyu, which fell by 6.61%, marking its lowest close since July 2022, and Sharp, which experienced a loss of 6.33%.
