Nikkei continues to rise by 434 points in half a day, reaching a historical high; SoftBank and Kioxia soar by 9% to 12%

Japanese stocks hit a new high this morning (11th). The rise in U.S. tech stocks has driven up related Japanese stocks. The Nikkei average index continued its upward momentum from the previous day, opening 38 points higher and then expanding its gains, rising by as much as 450 points to reach a historic high of 44,288. It closed near the high at 44,271 points, up 434 points or 1%.

In the technology and semiconductor sectors, SoftBank (9984.JP) rose 9.1%, memory chip maker Kioxia (285A.JP) rose 11.8%, Nvidia supplier Advantest (6857.JP) and Disco (6146.JP) rose 4.3% and 3.8%, respectively, NetScreen (07735.JP) rose 3.2%, and Tokyo Electron (8035.JP) rose 0.4%. Raytech (6920.JP) rose 1.4%. Wire stocks Furukawa Electric (5801.JP) and Fujikura (5803.JP) rose 0.8% and 4.3%. Semiconductor materials supplier JX Metals (5016.JP) rose 9.8%.

In the automotive sector, Toyota (7203.JP) fell 1.2%, while battery maker Panasonic (6752.JP) rose nearly 0.9%. Heavy industry stocks Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.JP), Kawasaki Heavy Industries (7012.JP), and IHI (7013.JP) rose between 0.8% and 1.4%. Among other stocks, Fast Retailing (9983.JP) and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306.JP) fell 1.2%, Sony (6758.JP) fell nearly 0.8%, IP operator Sanrio (8136.JP) rose less than 0.1%, Ryohin Keikaku (7453.JP) rose 3.4%, and Nintendo (7974.JP) rose 0.6%. Japanese stablecoin concept stock Asteria (3853.JP) fell 2.2%.

Tokyo Electric Power (9501.JP) and Chubu Electric Power (9502.JP) rose 0.1% and 0.8%, respectively. The two companies' joint venture JERA signed an agreement with a U.S. company to explore the import of liquefied natural gas from Alaska.

The latest exchange rate for the U.S. dollar against the Japanese yen is 147.44