Japan's Nikkei rises as tech stocks rally ahead of Warsh speech
Pedestrians walk past a stock quotation board showing the Nikkei share average outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, July 17, 2026. REUTERS/Manami Yamadaâ.
The Nikkei rose 0.4% to close at 66,405.56
Kevin Buckland | Reuters News
Japan’s Nikkei share average rose on Friday, lifted in large part by tech stocks, although gains were capped by simmering concerns about inflation and uncertainty about what Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh might signal in his speech at Jackson Hole.
The Nikkei rose 0.4% to close at 66,405.56.
Chip-testing equipment heavyweight Advantest advanced 1.9% to be the index’s biggest support, followed by online staffing agency Recruit, which climbed 4.9%.
Security software firm Trend Micro rallied 5.9% to be the Nikkei’s biggest percentage gainer.
Of the index’s 225 components, 146 rose versus 74 that fell, with five ending flat.
The broader Topix added 0.7% to 4,146.71.
For the week, the Nikkei gained 0.6%, while the Topix advanced around 2%.
Japanese tech stocks were supported by gains for Wall Street peers overnight, with the Philadelphia SE semiconductor index rallying 2.3% on Thursday.
However, sentiment was restrained by rising bond yields as oil prices ticked higher amid continued uncertainty in the Middle East. Data on Friday also showed inflationary pressures creeping higher in Tokyo, bolstering the case for a Bank of Japan interest rate hike.
Warsh is slated to speak later in the day at the Fed’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole. Three Fed officials have already sounded the alarm about sticky inflation but the new central bank chief has resisted providing forward guidance about where interest rates are going.
“There’s a wait-and-see attitude in the Japanese stock market ahead of Warsh’s Jackson Hole speech, with investors wanting to hear what he has to say before making investment decisions,” which kept trading relatively subdued, said Maki Sawada, a strategist at Nomura Securities.
(Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
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