Published on 08/06/2026 at 03:13 am EDT
(Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average declined on Thursday, as heavyweight tech stocks tracked losses among Wall Street peers, outweighing gains in most equities amid lower crude prices on rising hopes of a Middle East peace deal.
The tech-heavy Nikkei fell just over 2% at one point before ending the day down 0.9% at 65,683.26.
Of its 225 components, 56 dropped, 168 rose and one finished flat. Technology was the only sector to decline.
Heavily weighted AI-related plays tumbled after the overnight slide in U.S.-listed chipmaker AMD and SpaceX as concerns about massive AI spending flared again.
AI-focused startup investor SoftBank Group dropped 4.4%, chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron skidded 5.5% and chip-testing tool manufacturer Advantest slipped 2.3%.
"Because these semiconductor-related stocks have a high impact on the index, the selloff looks harsh at first glance but overall market sentiment hasn't deteriorated drastically," said Wataru Akiyama, an equities strategist at Nomura Securities, adding that the broader market was buoyed by the decline in oil.
The Topix textiles and apparel sub-index jumped 5.35% to be the best performer among the Tokyo Stock Exchange's 33 industry groupings.
On the Nikkei, standouts included healthcare equipment maker OMRON, with a 15% rally, cosmetics company Kao , which climbed nearly 13%, and online marketplace Mercari, which advanced nearly 12%.
(Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair and Mrigank Dhaniwala)

Sumber : Reuters