On October 1, Japan's stock market opened the first trading day of the fourth quarter with a powerful rally. Fueled by gains in US tech stocks and strong earnings from chip giant Micron Technology, AI and semiconductor-related sectors attracted aggressive buying throughout the session.
Meanwhile, the latest "Tankan" economic survey delivered mixed results, which somewhat eased market concerns about the Bank of Japan pursuing consecutive rate hikes in the near term. These multiple positive factors drove the Nikkei 225 index into a one-way rally for the entire day.
The Nikkei 225 opened at 67,106.52 points and surged higher on the back of strong gains in tech stocks, touching an intraday high of 68,995.30 points. By the close, the index had skyrocketed 2,203.00 points, or 3.30%, to finish at 68,956.72 points 鈥?its highest closing level since August 17.
The broader TOPIX index posted a more modest gain of 0.57%, closing at 4,131.98 points.
Micron Technology's earlier strong earnings report fully ignited optimism across Asia's semiconductor supply chain. Weighted semiconductor equipment giants including Tokyo Electron and Advantest soared across the board, injecting the strongest upward momentum directly into the Nikkei index.
Chip inspection equipment maker Lasertec surged 11.14% to a two-month high. Advantest jumped 9.78%, electronic component manufacturer Murata Manufacturing climbed 8.43%, and memory chip maker Kioxia rose 5.55%.
The Tankan report released by the Bank of Japan showed that while confidence among large manufacturers rose to a near eight-year high, sentiment among non-manufacturing companies declined. More critically, corporate inflation expectations remained stable without signs of acceleration.
This patchy economic picture led the market to believe that the Bank of Japan may not raise rates in October immediately after its September move, thereby easing the policy tightening pressure facing the stock market.
Not only did Japanese stocks perform well today, but major Asia-Pacific markets were also active. South Korea's KOSPI index rose 1.95% to close at 6,971.36 points, driven by gains in chip stocks, creating a strong bullish resonance between the two markets from the technology stock buying wave.