Japan's Nikkei jumps on renewed hopes for Middle East peace

Japan's Nikkei share average jumped more than 4% on Friday as investors scooped up stocks on renewed hopes for peace in the Middle East after U.S. President Donald ‌Trump said ⁠he ⁠had cancelled planned strikes against Iran.

The Nikkei was up 4.06% to 66,822.56, as of 0025 GMT. The broader Topix gained 2.2% to 3,914.74. President Donald Trump on Thursday said the United States ⁠and Iran could ‌sign a peace deal as soon as this weekend ⁠that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, but Iran countered that it had not reached a final decision on an agreement.

In Japan, technology shares led the Nikkei's gain, with chip-related Advantest and Tokyo Electron jumping ‌8.8% and 10.49%, respectively.


Memory chipmaker Kioxia rose 5.94%. Technology investor SoftBank Group was up 3.34%.

Staffing ⁠agency Recruit Holdings and camera and audio equipment maker Sony Group fell more than 1% each.

All but four of the Tokyo Stock Exchange's 33 industry sub-indices rose. The mining sector fell 1.02% to become the worst performer.