Nikkei falls 744 points or 1.5% in half a day; SoftBank and Kioxia rapidly decline, while bank stocks rise against the trend

AASTOCKS
2025.12.15 03:18

The Bank of Japan will announce its interest rate decision this Friday (19th), with the market betting on a 25 basis point increase to 0.75%. Japanese stocks fell in early trading, influenced by the decline of U.S. tech stocks last Friday (12th), leading to sell-offs in semiconductor-related stocks. The Bank of Japan's fourth-quarter Tankan large manufacturers' business confidence index reached a four-year high, raising market expectations for a rate hike in Japan, which is favorable for bank stocks. The Nikkei average index opened down 484 points this morning (15th), with the initial decline narrowing to 408 points at 50,432 points before falling again, closing near the low at 50,092 points, down 744 points or 1.5%.

AI concept and semiconductor stocks fell, with SoftBank (9984.JP) and memory chip stock Kioxia (285A.JP) down 7.2%, NVIDIA supplier Advantest (6857.JP) down 5.8%, and Raytech (6920.JP) and Discus (6146.JP) down 1.6% and 2.2%, respectively. Wire stocks Furukawa Electric (5801.JP) and Fujikura (5803.JP) fell 3.8% and 4%, while Sumitomo Electric (5802.JP) dropped 1.3%.

Robot stocks Fanuc (6954.JP) and Yaskawa Electric (6506.JP) fell 3% and 2.8%. Heavy industry stocks Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.JP) dropped 2%, while Kawasaki Heavy Industries (7012.JP) and IHI (7013.JP) fell 0.8% and 0.4%. JX Metals (5016.JP) fell 0.8%, and electric power stock Tokyo Electric Power (9501.JP) dropped 0.5%.

Financial stocks rose, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (8306.JP) up 0.9%, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial (8316.HK) and Mizuho Financial (8411.JP) up 1.6% and 1.8%. In other stocks, Fast Retailing (9983.JP) and cartoon IP parent company Sanrio (8136.JP) rose 0.5% and 1%, while Rakuten Group (4755.JP) and Toyota (7203.JP) rose 1.6% and 1.7%. Ryohin Keikaku (7453.JP) and Sony (6758.JP) fell 0.3% and 0.8%, while Panasonic (6752.JP), Nintendo (7974.JP), and Hitachi (6501.JP) fell between 1.8% and 2.2%.

The Japanese yen rose nearly 0.3% during the Asian session, with the dollar against the yen reported at 155.35

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