Japan’s Topix Ends at 33-year High, Tech Shares Gain after Arm IPO

REUTERS

17:54 JST, September 15, 2023

TOKYO, Sept 15 (Reuters) – Japan’s broader Topix share index ended at a more than 33-year high on Friday, underpinned by overnight Wall Street gains, with technology stocks leading the gains after the strong market debut of SoftBank Group’s Arm Holdings.

The broader Topix .TOPX rose 0.95% to end at 2,428.38, its highest close since June 1990 and rose 2.95% for the week.

The benchmark Nikkei .N225 jumped 1.1% to finish at 33,533.09, its highest closing level since July 3 and rose 2.8% for the week.

“First of all, the market rose because Wall Street was strong,” said Shoichi Arisawa, general manager of the investment research department at IwaiCosmo Securities.

“And the strong debut of Arm has raised investor sentiment and prompted them to buy chip-related shares.”

U.S. stocks ended sharply higher overnight as robust economic data failed to budge expectations that the Federal Reserve will leave its key interest rate unchanged next week.

Adding to positive sentiment, SoftBank Group’s 9984.T Arm was valued at nearly $60 billion in a strong Nasdaq debut overnight, with the chip designer’s shares soaring nearly 25% in their first day of trading.

Shares in SoftBank Group rose as much as 5% earlier in the session but trimmed some gains to end 2.08% higher.

Toyota Motor 7203.T rose 2.67% to give the biggest boost to the Topix, followed by Sony Group 6758.T, which rose 2.25%. and phone company NTT 9432.T jumped 2.58%.

Chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron 8035.T rose 3.11%

All but four of the Tokyo Stock Exchanges’ 33 industry sub-indexes rose.

The Utility sector .IEPNG.T rose 3.37% to become the top performer. Refiners .IPETE.T jumped 4%.

The banking sector .IBNKS.T fell 1.19% to become the worst performing sector.