Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average Changes Course to Inch Lower as SoftBank Group Falls

Reuters

12:19 JST, December 11, 2025

TOKYO, Dec 11 (Reuters) – Japan’s Nikkei share average reversed early gains to inch down on Thursday, as SoftBank Group tracked sharp declines in Oracle after the U.S. tech giant missed Wall Street’s forecasts.

The Nikkei .N225 was down 0.1% at 50,554.10, as of 0144 GMT, after rising as much as 0.5% earlier in the session.

The broader Topix .TOPX fell 0.17% to 3,383.12.

SoftBank Group 9984.T dropped 5.17% to track Oracle’s ORCL.N more than 11% decline in extended trading after the U.S. tech giant’s sales and profit forecast missed Wall Street expectations.

Earlier this year, SoftBank Group, along with Oracle and Open AI, announced plans to develop artificial intelligence data centers in the U.S to build out their ambitious Stargate project.

“The Nikkei opened higher to track overnight Wall Street’s rises, but the gains were erased by declines of SoftBank Group,” Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory market analyst Shuutarou Yasuda said.

“The earnings of Oracle raised concerns if the data center project, in which SoftBank Group is involved, would proceed as expected,” he said.

Overnight, Wall Street ended higher, after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 25 basis points as expected and investors bet on further easing down the road, even as the U.S. central bank signaled that it will put further cuts on pause for now. .N

In Japan, other technology stocks fell, with chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron 8035.T slipping 0.75%. Silicon wafer maker Shin-Etsu Chemical 4063.T declined 1.83% and a robot maker Fanuc 6954.T lost 1.48%.

On the other hand, bank shares rose, with Mizuho Financial Group 8411.T rising 0.53% and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group 8316.T climbing 0.62%.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange’s value share index .TOPXV was flat, while the growth share index .TOPXG slipped 0.32%.

Bucking the trend, chip-testing equipment maker Advantest 6857.T jumped 4.49%.

Printing firm Toppan Holdings 7911.T rose 5.3% to become the Nikkei’s top percentage gainer.

Of the more than 1,600 shares trading on the TSE’s prime market, 25% rose, 70% fell, and 4% traded flat.