Japan's Nikkei ends at over 4-month high as chip-related shares track US peers higher

Japan's Nikkei share average ended at a more than four-month high on Wednesday, as chip-related stocks tracked overnight gains of their U.S. peers.

The Nikkei rose 0.39% to 38,942.07, its highest closing level since February 19, after flitting between modest gains and losses.

The broader Topix inched up 0.03% at 2,782.24.


"The Nikkei swayed between gains and losses today as investors tried to book profits from gains in the previous session," said Shigetoshi Kamada, general manager at the research department at Tachibana Securities.

"But the index is showing an upside trend now, so as long as we do not see any negative news, investors want to buy stocks to cover their short positions."

The Nikkei snapped a three-day losing streak to end higher on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the ceasefire agreement late Monday.

The truce appeared fragile: Both Israel and Iran took hours to acknowledge they had accepted the ceasefire and accused each other of violating it.

Still, investors viewed the ceasefire rhetoric as a sign of de-escalating tensions, pushing the U.S. stocks up more than 1% overnight.

Chip-related stocks advanced, tracking a 3.8% gain in the U.S. Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.

Advantest added 3.32% and Tokyo Electron climbed 3.26%, becoming the biggest source of the Nikkei's gain.

Technology investor SoftBank Group fell 1.73% to weigh on the Nikkei the most. Olympus tanked 10.6% after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an import alert for certain medical devices made by the medical equipment maker.

Shares of Toyota Motor lost 1.18%.

Of more than 1,600 stocks trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's prime market, 45% rose and 50% dropped, while 4% traded flat.