Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average Edges Lower as Advantest, SoftBank Group Drag (UPDATE 1)　

Reuters

12:41 JST, November 4, 2025 (updated at 16:35 JST)

TOKYO, Nov 4 (Reuters) – Japan’s Nikkei share average fell nearly 2% on Tuesday, as investors sold Advantest and SoftBank Group after recent sharp rallies in both stocks.

The Nikkei .N225 fell 1.74% at 51,497.2. The broader Topix .TOPX lost 0.65% to 3,310.14.

Chip-testing equipment maker Advantest 6857.T lost 5.86% and technology investor SoftBank Group 9984.T fell 7.04%, becoming the biggest drag on the index.

“Investors sold those stocks as they rose sharply in the past sessions,” said Naoki Fujiwara, senior fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management.

“Particularly, Advantest rose to a daily limit high last week on a strong outlook. The market is not expecting any news from the company itself for a while,” he said.

Overall market momentum however remains firm, supported by the strong performance of U.S. technology stocks such as Amazon, said Shuutarou Yasuda, a market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq indexes closed higher on Monday, with artificial intelligence-related deals driving much of the gains. Amazon AMZN.O rose 4% after announcing a $38 billion deal with OpenAI.

Japan’s stock market was closed for a public holiday on Monday.

On Tuesday, Tokyo Electron 8035.T jumped 1.78% after the chip-making equipment maker on Friday hiked its operating profit forecast by 2.8% for the year ending March 2026.

Sumitomo Electric 5802.T, which makes fiber optic products used by AI data centers, jumped 7.29% after the company raised its annual net profit forecast by 18.7% to 230 billion yen ($1.53 billion).

Of more than 1,600 stocks trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s prime market, 52% rose, 44% fell, while 2% traded flat.