Japanese stocks opened lower on Thursday, with the Nikkei 225 shedding 26.63 points to 38,858.52, following comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

While the Fed maintained interest rates and signaled two more cuts this year, Powell's expectation of a meaningful pickup in inflation in the coming months, coupled with tariff-driven economic uncertainty, complicated the central bank's easing efforts.

In other news, Nippon Steel (TYO:5401), through its subsidiary Nippon Steel North America, has completed the acquisition of United States Steel Corporation.

A pivotal element of this finalization is the companies' establishment of a National Security Agreement (NSA) with the US government.

Concurrently, US Steel has issued a golden share to the US government, as detailed in a joint statement released on Wednesday.