In the Asian stock market, the Nikkei index fell 458 points in the first half of the day, with semiconductor and robotics stocks weakening, while SoftBank rose 3%

Japanese stocks fell in the early market, influenced by the decline in U.S. semiconductor stocks, with related Japanese stocks following suit. Investors bought shares to collect dividends before the end of the month, which limited the market's decline. The Nikkei average index opened down 364 points, with the initial drop expanding to 1,086 points, hitting a low of 52,516 points, and closing down 458 points or 0.9% at 53,145 points.

In the artificial intelligence and semiconductor sector, Advantest (6857.JP), Disc (6146.JP), and Tokyo Electron (8035.JP) fell by 3.4% to 3.9%, Kioxia (285A.JP) dropped 5.3%, and Renesas Electronics (6920.JP) decreased by 0.3%, while SoftBank (9984.JP) rose by 3.1%. In the wire sector, Furukawa Electric (5801.JP) fell by 8.1%, Sumitomo Electric (5802.JP) and Fujikura (5803.JP) dropped by 6.2% and 4%, respectively.

South Korea has imposed anti-dumping duties on industrial robots from China and Japan, causing Kawasaki Heavy Industries (7012.JP) and Fanuc (6594.JP) to decline by 2.4% and 2.7%, while Yaskawa Electric (6506.JP) fell by 3.8%. In other stocks, Fast Retailing (9983.JP) rose by 0.2%, Tokyo Electric Power (9501.JP) increased by 0.9%, and Nintendo (7974.JP) and Sanrio (8136.JP) gained 2.4% and 2.2%, respectively. In the metals sector, JX Metals (5016.JP) and Mitsui Mining & Smelting (5706.JP) fell by 2.8% and 2.9%, while rare earth concept Mitsui Ocean Development (6269.JP) dropped by 2.6%.

Shiseido (4911.JP) was upgraded to "Buy" by Citigroup, with its stock price rising by 6%.

The exchange rate of the U.S. dollar against the Japanese yen is 159.49