Nikkei Surges 1.4% with Help from Chip Shares

The Japanese index, Nikkei, was led by semiconductor stocks to rise on Friday, also leading to weekly gains.

The Nikkei increased by 1.4 percent to close at 35,963.27 points. The index rose by 1.09 percent over the week, after initially trading slightly lower.

The index rose to 36,076.23 points during the session, slightly lower than its highest level in 34 years, which was recorded on Wednesday at 36,239.22 points. However, it was unable to sustain above the 36,000-point threshold.

As the TOPIX index climbed 0.72 percent during the day and 0.63 percent during the week.

However, the technical indicators continue to show that the Nikkei has risen by 7.47% since the beginning of 2024, making it the best-performing among the major global indices. It has been experiencing an “excessive” ascent even after the recent declines in the past two days.

Foreign investors are the main driving force behind this year’s increase, as data from the Ministry of Finance this week showed that net stock purchases exceeded 1.2 trillion yen ($8.09 billion) in the seven-day period ending on January 13.

The chip-related stocks have achieved outstanding performance, following the gains of their American counterparts overnight, after the Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer TSMC, the world’s largest contract semiconductor manufacturing company, predicted revenue growth of over 20% by 2024.

Tokyo Electron and Advantest were the top gainers in terms of points, with each stock gaining over 100 points in the total increase recorded by the Nikkei during the day, which reached 497 points. They jumped by 6.03% and 8.2% respectively.
Reuters