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Reuters
8 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
Japan's Nikkei races to record high, SoftBank leads tech surge
TOKYO, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share gauge (.N225), opens new tab powered to an all-time high on Tuesday, driven by sharp gains for tech companies and renewed optimism over trade with the United States. With financial markets reopening after a holiday in Japan on Monday, the stock benchmark caught up with peaks scaled earlier this year by other major global centres. The Nikkei 225 surged 2.2% to 42,718.172 at the bell, the highest close ever. It touched 42,999.71 earlier in the session, exceeding the previous intraday high of 42,426.77 set on July 11, 2024. In a roller-coaster ride in 2024, the Nikkei exceeded a record that had stood since 1989 during Japan's bubble economy. Tokyo's broader Topix (.TOPX), opens new tab gauge has been setting successive record highs since July 24 and also scored a new all-time high on Tuesday, rising 1.4% to close at 3,066.37. The U.S. Standard & Poor's 500 (.SPX), opens new tab and MSCI's broadest gauge of global equities (.MIWD00000PUS), opens new tab have been charting new peaks since June. "The Nikkei was not able to hit a record until today because chip-related shares and auto shares dragged on the index," said Takamasa Ikeda, senior portfolio manager at GCI Asset Management. "The Nikkei could soon peak as technology shares that led Wall Street's rally have slowed down." SoftBank Group soared 6.9% to 14,825 yen, a historic high. The stock has catapulted more than 25% in the past five days and got an added boost after Reuters reported that SoftBank was selecting banks for a U.S. listing of its payments app operator PayPay. Semiconductor industry heavyweights Advantest (6857.T), opens new tab and Lasertec (6920.T), opens new tab jumped 6.3% and 7.1%, respectively. Global stock markets tumbled after U.S. President Donald Trump's April 2 "Liberation Day" announcement of sweeping tariffs on imports from dozens of countries into the U.S. Shares have since more than recouped those losses as trade concerns abated and excitement over artificial intelligence (AI) companies soared. Uncertainty over tariff levels imposed by the U.S. has weighed on shares in Japan, where exports are a key driver for the economy. The U.S. on Thursday promised to amend a presidential executive order to remove overlapping tariffs on Japanese goods. "The impact of U.S. tariffs seems not as serious as the market had expected," said Shoichi Arisawa, general manager of the investment research department at IwaiCosmo Securities. "There will be more companies which will revise up their outlooks due to the limited impact of the U.S. tariffs. The yen remains weak, which is also positive for Japanese companies." Foreign money has been flooding into the Japanese market of late, but data from the Tokyo Stock Exchange last week indicated those flows may have peaked. Overseas investors turned net sellers of Japanese stocks and futures for the first time in 16 weeks in the period ending Aug. 1. They sold a net 342 billion yen ($2.3 billion) of shares and futures, a sharp reversal from net purchases of 1.26 trillion yen in the previous week. ($1 = 148.2400 yen)
CNA
11 hours ago
- Business
- CNA
Japan's Nikkei rallies to record high, SoftBank surges
TOKYO :Japan's Nikkei share gauge powered to an all-time high on Tuesday, driven by sharp gains for tech companies and renewed optimism over trade with the United States. With financial markets reopening after a holiday in Japan on Monday, the stock benchmark caught up with peaks scaled earlier this year by other major global centres. The Nikkei 225 surged 2.46 per cent to 42,849.67 as of the morning close, exceeding the previous high of 42,426.77 set on July 11, 2024. In a roller-coaster ride in 2024, the Nikkei had exceeded a record that had stood since 1989 during Japan's bubble economy. Japan's broader Topix gauge has been setting successive record highs since July 24 and also scored a new all-time high on Tuesday, rising 1.45 per cent to 3,067.96. The U.S. Standard & Poor's 500 and MSCI's broadest gauge of global equities have been charting new peaks since June. "The Nikkei was not able to hit a record until today because chip-related shares and auto shares dragged the index," said Takamasa Ikeda, senior portfolio manager at GCI Asset Management. "The Nikkei could soon peak as technology shares that led the Wall Street's rally have slowed down." SoftBank Group soared 6.9 per cent after Reuters reported the conglomerate was selecting banks for a U.S. listing of its payments app operator PayPay. Semiconductor industry heavyweights Advantest and Lasertec jumped 7.1 per cent and 6.9 per cent, respectively. Global stock markets tumbled after U.S. President Donald Trump's April 2 "Liberation Day" announcement of sweeping tariffs on imports from dozens of countries into the U.S. Shares have since more than recouped those losses as trade concerns abated and enthusiasm over artificial intelligence companies soared. Uncertainty over tariff levels imposed by the U.S. has weighed on shares in Japan, where exports are a key driver for the economy. The U.S. on Thursday promised to amend a presidential executive order to remove overlapping tariffs on Japanese goods. "The impact of U.S. tariffs seems not as serious as the market had expected," said Shoichi Arisawa, general manager of the investment research department at IwaiCosmo Securities. "There will be more companies which will revise up their outlooks due to the limited impact of the U.S. tariffs. The yen remains weak, which is also positive for Japanese companies." Foreign money has been flooding into the Japanese market of late, but data from the Tokyo Stock Exchange last week indicated those flows may have peaked. Overseas investors turned net sellers of Japanese stocks and futures for the first time in 16 weeks in the period ending Aug. 1. They sold a net 342 billion yen ($2.31 billion) of shares and futures, a sharp reversal from net purchases of 1.26 trillion yen in the previous week. ($1 = 148.3700 yen)
Reuters
11 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
Japan's Nikkei rallies to record high, SoftBank surges
TOKYO, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share gauge (.N225), opens new tab powered to an all-time high on Tuesday, driven by sharp gains for tech companies and renewed optimism over trade with the United States. With financial markets reopening after a holiday in Japan on Monday, the stock benchmark caught up with peaks scaled earlier this year by other major global centres. The Nikkei 225 surged 2.46% to 42,849.67 as of the morning close, exceeding the previous high of 42,426.77 set on July 11, 2024. In a roller-coaster ride in 2024, the Nikkei had exceeded a record that had stood since 1989 during Japan's bubble economy. Japan's broader Topix (.TOPX), opens new tab gauge has been setting successive record highs since July 24 and also scored a new all-time high on Tuesday, rising 1.45% to 3,067.96. The U.S. Standard & Poor's 500 (.SPX), opens new tab and MSCI's broadest gauge of global equities (.MIWD00000PUS), opens new tab have been charting new peaks since June. "The Nikkei was not able to hit a record until today because chip-related shares and auto shares dragged the index," said Takamasa Ikeda, senior portfolio manager at GCI Asset Management. "The Nikkei could soon peak as technology shares that led the Wall Street's rally have slowed down." SoftBank Group soared 6.9% after Reuters reported the conglomerate was selecting banks for a U.S. listing of its payments app operator PayPay. Semiconductor industry heavyweights Advantest (6857.T), opens new tab and Lasertec (6920.T), opens new tab jumped 7.1% and 6.9%, respectively. Global stock markets tumbled after U.S. President Donald Trump's April 2 "Liberation Day" announcement of sweeping tariffs on imports from dozens of countries into the U.S. Shares have since more than recouped those losses as trade concerns abated and enthusiasm over artificial intelligence companies soared. Uncertainty over tariff levels imposed by the U.S. has weighed on shares in Japan, where exports are a key driver for the economy. The U.S. on Thursday promised to amend a presidential executive order to remove overlapping tariffs on Japanese goods. "The impact of U.S. tariffs seems not as serious as the market had expected," said Shoichi Arisawa, general manager of the investment research department at IwaiCosmo Securities. "There will be more companies which will revise up their outlooks due to the limited impact of the U.S. tariffs. The yen remains weak, which is also positive for Japanese companies." Foreign money has been flooding into the Japanese market of late, but data from the Tokyo Stock Exchange last week indicated those flows may have peaked. Overseas investors turned net sellers of Japanese stocks and futures for the first time in 16 weeks in the period ending Aug. 1. They sold a net 342 billion yen ($2.31 billion) of shares and futures, a sharp reversal from net purchases of 1.26 trillion yen in the previous week. ($1 = 148.3700 yen)
Malay Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
In a landmark deal, Nvidia and AMD set to pay US 15pc of AI chip revenue from Chinese sales
WASHINGTON, Aug 11 — US semiconductor giants Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices have agreed to pay the United States government 15 per cent of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China, according to media reports Sunday. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang met with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday and agreed to give the federal government the cut from its revenues, a highly unusual arrangement in the international tech trade, according to reports in the Financial Times, Bloomberg and New York Times. AFP was not able to immediately verify the reports. Investors are betting that AI will transform the global economy, and last month Nvidia — the world's leading semiconductor producer — became the first company ever to hit US$4 trillion (RM16.95 trillion) in market value. The California-based firm has, however, become entangled in trade tensions between China and the United States, which are waging a heated battle for dominance to produce the chips that power AI. The US has been restricting which chips Nvidia can export to China on national security grounds. Nvidia said last month that Washington had pledged to let the company sell its 'H20' chips to China, which are a less powerful version the tech giant specifically developed for the Chinese market. The Trump administration had not issued licenses to allow Nvidia to sell the chips before the reported White House meeting. On Friday, however, the Commerce Department started granting the licenses for chip sales, the reports said. Silicon Valley-based Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) will also pay 15 per cent of revenue on Chinese sales of its MI308 chips, which it was previously barred from exporting to the country. The deal could earn the US government more than US$2 billion, according to the New York Times report. The move comes as the Trump administration has been imposing stiff tariffs, with goals varying from addressing US trade imbalances, wanting to reshore manufacturing and pressuring foreign governments to change policies. A 100 per cent tariff on many semiconductor imports came into effect last week, with exceptions for tech companies that announce major investments in the United States. — AFP
