In the first trading day of the New Year, the Nikkei Average Index closed up 3%, led by semiconductor and heavy industry stocks

Driven by semiconductor stocks, the Japanese stock market performed significantly well on the first trading day of the new year, with the depreciation of the yen also being a favorable factor. The Nikkei average index opened 670 points higher and the gains expanded, reaching a peak increase of 1,693 points at 52,033 points before closing up 1,493 points or 3% at 51,832 points.

In the artificial intelligence and semiconductor sectors, SoftBank (9984.JP) and Discus (6146.JP) rose by 4.9% and 6.1%, respectively, while Advantest (6857.JP), Raytech (6920.JP), and Tokyo Electron (8035.JP) increased by 7% to 7.8%, and Kioxia (285A.JP) rose by 8.7%. In the wire sector, Furukawa Electric (5801.JP), Sumitomo Electric (5802.JP), and Fujikura (5803.JP) increased by 5.3% to 6.1%.

In the heavy industry sector, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.JP), Kawasaki Heavy Industries (7012.JP), and IHI (7013.JP) rose by 7.9% to 9%, while electric power stock Tokyo Electric Power Company (9501.JP) increased by 9%, and metal stock JX Metals (5016.JP) rose by 3.1%.

In other stocks, Fast Retailing (9983.JP), Nintendo (7974.JP), and Sanrio (8136.JP) rose by 0.4% to 0.6%, while Toyota (7203.JP), Sony (6758.JP), and Itochu (8001.JP) increased by 1.2% to 1.4%. Ryohin Keikaku (7453.JP) and Panasonic (6752.JP) rose by 2.4% and 2.7%, respectively, while Hitachi (6501.JP) increased by 3.4%. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306.JP) and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (8316.JP) rose by 2.1% and 2.8%.

The exchange rate of the US dollar against the yen is 157.12