Nikkei Rises, AI Stocks Hold Market Amid Hormuz Risk
The Nikkei 225 rose in Tuesday morning trading on optimism that the performance of domestic and US technology companies will remain solid, supporting demand for AI-based stocks, particularly chipmakers. The Nikkei 225 rose 0.4% to 59,973.86, while the Topix fell 0.4% to 3,701.82 (9:04 a.m. Tokyo time), signaling more convincing gains.
Shoji Hirakawa of Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Lab believes AI stocks are likely to remain strong due to strong earnings expectations and are relatively resilient to economic downturns and rising oil prices. Globally, technology sentiment was boosted after the US chip index rose for an 18th straight day on Friday, Intel hit a record, while SAP reported better-than-expected cloud services revenue growth.
However, market strength was limited by the impasse over resuming peace talks regarding the Iran-Iran war, with the Strait of Hormuz still effectively closed. Strengthening oil prices added to the caution, with Brent briefly rising as much as 2.5% to $107.97 per barrel, maintaining concerns about inflation and high input costs.
On the Topix, the decline was led by certain stocks, such as Mitsui & Co., which fell 2.6%. Of the 1,650 index members, 527 rose, 1,002 fell, and 121 were unchanged, indicating broad market weakness despite the Nikkei's rally in technology stocks. (asd)*
Source: Newsmaker.id
