Nikkei Rises Slightly Despite Weekly Weakness
Japanese stocks closed higher on Friday, but continued to post sharp declines throughout the week as the Middle East conflict continued to shake global risk sentiment. The Nikkei 225 index rose 0.62% to end at 55,621, while the Topix index gained 0.39% to 3,717. Despite rebounding at the end of the week, both indexes are still down more than 5% for the week.
The weekly pressure was mainly driven by the escalation of the US-Israel conflict with Iran, which entered its seventh day, amid a new wave of Iranian missile and drone attacks on the Gulf region. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi denied reports that Iran had requested a ceasefire and signaled no readiness to negotiate, maintaining high geopolitical uncertainty.
Surging oil prices also weighed on equity markets, rekindling inflation concerns and adding risks to the growth outlook. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda warned that a war could have a significant impact on the Japanese economy, reinforcing investor caution amid energy volatility.
In the technology sector, movements were mixed. Kioxia Holdings fell 1.6%, Fujikura fell 4.6%, and Lasertec fell 0.7%. Meanwhile, Advantest rose 0.7%, Disco Corp gained 2.6%, and SoftBank Group rose 1.6%, helping support the index at the close. (Cp)
Source: Newsmaker.id
