Asian Stocks: Japanese stocks rose by 170 points or 0.3%, briefly declined after hitting a peak, and bank stocks reached new highs

The Japanese stock market set a new high in the early session, supported by the rise in U.S. stocks on the night of the 25th and the depreciation of the yen. Foreign capital buying index futures pushed the market higher, but profit-taking at high levels limited the market's gains, with some semiconductor stocks experiencing pullbacks. The Nikkei average opened up 412 points, at one point rising 749 points to reach a new high of 59,332 points, but the gains evaporated later, and in the afternoon, it slightly dipped, ultimately closing up 170 points or 0.3% at 58,753 points.

In the artificial intelligence and semiconductor sectors, SoftBank (9984.JP) rose 4%, Renesas Electronics (6920.JP) rose 2.9%, while Advantest (6857.JP), Disco (6146.JP), Tokyo Electron (8035.JP), and Kioxia (285A.JP) fell between 1% and 2%. In the wire sector, Furukawa Electric (5801.JP) and Sumitomo Electric (5802.JP) fell 0.4% and 4.4%, while Fujikura (5803.JP) rose 2.4%. In the metals sector, JX Metals (5016.JP) fell 0.1%, Sumitomo Metal Mining (5713.JP) fell 2.6%, and Mitsui Mining & Smelting (5706.JP) rose 1.3%.

Heavy industry stocks rebounded, with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.JP) and IHI (7013.JP) rising 3.1% and 3.7%. Bank stocks recovered, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (8306.JP) and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial (8316.JP) rising 3.3% and 3.4%, and Mizuho Financial (8411.JP) rising 5.1%. In the automotive sector, Toyota (7203.JP) reported strong global sales, with its stock price rising 1.5%.

In other stocks, Fast Retailing (9983.JP) rose 0.8% ex-dividend, Hitachi (6501.JP) rose 5.5%, Sony (6758.JP) and Nintendo (7974.JP) rose 3.2% and 2.6%, while Tokyo Electric Power (9501.JP) fell 2%.

The exchange rate of the dollar against the yen is 156.07