Japan's Nikkei escapes losses as tech share gains offset drag from strong yen

Japan's Nikkei ‍share average ended slightly higher on Wednesday, buoyed in the final half-hour ⁠of trade by stronger-than-expected orders at Dutch chip equipment maker ASML.

The Nikkei had languished with losses as deep as 1% throughout the session as ‌a sharply ‌stronger yen weighed on Japan's exporter-heavy stock market. However, the announcement of ASML's bookings - ‌the most-watched metric in the chip industry - instantly saw the index erase those declines.

The Nikkei ended up 0.05%% at 53,358.71.


The broader Topix, however, did not benefit as much, and finished the day ​0.8% lower at 3,535.49. Value shares sank ​1.1%, outpacing the 0.5% fall among growth stocks .

Artificial ‌intelligence-related stocks ‍had already been outperforming the broader market, notably ‍cable makers Fujikura and Furukawa Electric, which soared ‌9.3% and 11.7%, respectively. That followed news overnight that Meta Platforms will pay Corning up to $6 billion to provide fiber-optic cables for its AI data centres.

"In response to this, expectations are growing, particularly among major technology companies, that the spread of AI will lead to solid profits," ‍said Wataru Akiyama, a strategist at Nomura Securities.

"As earnings season picks up pace in both Japan ‍and the U.S., ⁠confirming the strength ⁠of results for AI and semiconductor-related stocks will be crucial."

SoftBank Group climbed 3.7% on media reports it is in discussions to invest up to $30 billion more in ChatGPT maker OpenAI.

However, Shin-Etsu Chemical, a silicon wafer producer, tumbled 11.2% following disappointing financial results.

Automakers posted losses as the strong yen eroded the value of offshore revenues. Toyota dived 3.2% and Mazda tumbled 3.9%.