The Nikkei Average Index fell 238 points or 0.5% in the first half of the day, SoftBank retreated, while Toyota and Honda rose over 3%

Japanese stocks fell in the early market as investors took the opportunity to sell at high prices, impacting the overall market. The Nikkei average opened down 64 points, initially rising 21 points to 49,337 points before declining, at one point dropping 702 points to a low of 48,613 points. The decline narrowed later, closing down 238 points or 0.5% at 49,077 points.

In the AI concept and semiconductor stocks, SoftBank (9984.JP) fell 5.2%, Screen Holdings (7735.JP) and Nvidia supplier Advantest (6857.JP) dropped 4.7% and 3.4%, respectively. Raytech (6920.JP), Kioxia (285A.JP), and Discus (6146.JP) fell 1.2%, 0.7%, and 0.3%, respectively, while Tokyo Electron (8035.JP) rose 0.3%.

Electric power stocks saw Tokyo Electric Power Company (9501.JP) rise 0.4%. Wire stocks, including Furukawa Electric (5801.JP) and Fujikura (5803.JP), fell 0.5% and 1.6%. Heavy industry stocks Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.JP) rose 2.6%, while Kawasaki Heavy Industries (7012.JP) and IHI (7013.JP) increased by 4.5% and 5.6%, respectively. Automotive stocks Toyota (7203.JP) and Honda (7267.JP) rose 3% and 3.2%, while Nissan (7201.JP) increased by 2.7%. Battery stock Panasonic (6752.JP) fell 0.8%. JX Metals (5016.JP) dropped 4.4%.

In other stocks, Fast Retailing (9983.JP) and IP operator Sanrio (8136.JP) rose 0.2% and 0.6%, respectively, while Sony (6758.JP), Rakuten Group (4755.JP), Nintendo (7974.JP), and Hitachi (6501.JP) fell between 0.2% and 0.6%. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306.JP) dropped 0.9%, while Ryohin Keikaku (7453.JP) rose 2.8%.

The exchange rate of the US dollar to the Japanese yen is 151.62