Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average Falls for 3rd Session on Half-Yearly Portfolio Adjustment (UPDATE 1)

Reuters

12:44 JST, September 30, 2025 (updated at 16:50 JST)

TOKYO, Sept 30 (Reuters) – Japan’s Nikkei share average fell for a third session on Tuesday as investors adjusted their portfolios and corporates avoided buybacks as the first half of the nation’s fiscal year drew to a close.

The Nikkei .N225fell 0.25% to 44,932.63, but the broader Topix .TOPX rose 0.19% to 3,137.6 as big bank shares rose.

“Investors sold technology stocks, which are the Nikkei’s heavyweights, to book profits,” said Naoki Fujiwara, senior fund manager at Shinkin Asset Management.

Chip-testing equipment maker Advantest 6857.T fell 3.27% to become the biggest percentage loser on the Nikkei. Technology start-up investor SoftBank Group 9984.T lost 1.86%.

“Today’s decline (of the Nikkei) does not mean the market sentiment has weakened,” said Shoichi Arisawa, general manager of the investment research department at IwaiCosmo Securities.

This kind of adjustment associated with the end of the first half of the fiscal year may continue in the next sesssion, he said.

The market was also dragged lower as companies aovided buybacks at the end of the first half of fiscal year, he added.

Bank shares rose after the Bank of Japan’s hawkish message raised bets for an early interest rate hike. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group 8306.T and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group 8316.T gained 2.88% and 1.73%, respectively.

BOJ board members debated the feasibility of raising interest rates in the near term, with some suggesting the time for such a move may be approaching, a summary of opinions at the central bank’s September policy meeting showed on Tuesday.

Of more than 1,600 stocks trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s prime section, 32% rose and 64% fell, and 3% traded flat.