Asian Stocks: Nikkei Index rises 2,064 points or 4% in the first half, with semiconductor and fiber optic stocks leading the gains

Japanese stocks rose significantly as the market anticipated a calming of the Middle East situation, which boosted the market and offset concerns of institutional investors selling off at the start of the new fiscal year. The Nikkei average opened up 895 points and the gains expanded, rising by as much as 2,209 points to reach 53,273 points, closing up 2,064 points or 4% at 53,128 points.

In the AI and semiconductor sector, Advantest (6857.JP) and Kioxia (285A.JP) rose by 9.3% and 9.9%, respectively, while SoftBank (9984.JP), Renesas Electronics (6920.JP), and Tokyo Electron (8035.JP) increased by 4.4% to 4.7%. Discus (6146.JP) rose by 1.2%. In the fiber optics sector, Furukawa Electric (5801.JP) and Fujikura (5803.JP) rose by 8%, while Sumitomo Electric (5802.JP) increased by 6.9%.

In the heavy industry sector, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.JP) and Kawasaki Heavy Industries (7012.JP) rose by 6.8% and 7.2%, respectively, while IHI (7013.JP) increased by 3.2%. In the metals sector, JX Metals (5016.JP), Sumitomo Metal Mining (5713.JP), and Mitsui Mining & Smelting (5706.JP) rose by 6.9% to 7.3%. In the trading company sector, Marubeni (8002.JP) and Mitsui & Co. (8031.JP) rose by 4.8% and 4.3%, while Sumitomo Corporation (8053.JP) increased by 5.9%.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (8306.JP), Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (8316.JP), and Mizuho Financial Group (8411.JP) rose by 6.8% to 8.1%. In the insurance sector, Dai-ichi Life (8750.JP) rose by 4.9%. Other stocks included Fast Retailing (9983.JP) rising by 2.3%, Panasonic (6752.JP) and Hitachi (6501.JP) increasing by 5.6%, and Shiseido (4911.JP) rising by 5.2%.

The exchange rate of the US dollar against the Japanese yen is 158.7