Nikkei Hits New All-Time Closing High

Tokyo, Sept. 24 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average rewrote its all-time closing high on Wednesday, backed by the popularity of high-tech issues, especially those related to artificial intelligence. The Nikkei gained 136.65 points, or 0.30 pct, from Monday to end at 45,630.31, while the broader TOPIX stock index ended up 7.28 points, or 0.23 pct, at 3,170.45, also hitting a record closing high. The Japanese financial markets were closed Tuesday for a national holiday. The Nikkei index spent parts of Wednesday’s session in negative territory, reflecting selling to lock in profits after it marked an all-time high on Monday. But it rebounded later, as investor appetite for Japanese stocks remains strong, brokers said. Buyers mainly targeted tech investor SoftBank Group, which is heavily weighted in the Nikkei. The market welcomed a new data center project by the company, major U.S. generative AI firm OpenAI and U.S. technology giant Oracle, an official at a midsize brokerage house said. The three firms have announced that they will build AI data centers at five new sites in the United States under OpenAI’s Stargate overarching AI infrastructure project, which involves investments of up to 500 billion dollars over four years. “We may see a further rise (in the Nikkei average) in the short term, on the back of investor hopes for further growth in AI-related sectors,” an official at an investment advisory firm said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]