Japan's Nikkei inches higher as chip stocks track Wall Street's record finish
The Nikkei was up 0.11 per cent at 39,828.2, after hitting an intraday high of 40,012.66.
Earlier in the session, the benchmark index hovered between negative territory and modest gains. The Nikkei has slipped 0.8 per cent so far this week and is on course to snap a three-week winning streak.
The broader Topix was steady at 2,829.67.
"Investors remained optimistic about the market outlook, but the Nikkei is still vulnerable," said Shuutarou Yasuda, a market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory.
"As soon as it hit the 40,000 level, there was a sell-off to book profits," he said.
Wall Street rallied on Thursday to record closing highs, as chipmaker Nvidia rose closer to a US$4 trillion valuation and a surprisingly strong US jobs report cheered investors, who shrugged off dimming chances for an interest rate cut this month.
Investors remained cautious and refrained from making active bets on Japanese stocks at the end of the week, as they awaited a key US trade tariff deadline next week, strategists said.
Chip-related stocks led the gains on the Nikkei, with Advantest rising 2.33 per cent and Tokyo Electron gaining 1 per cent.
Banking shares advanced as Japanese government bond yields tracked US yields higher. Solid job gains in the US bolstered the case for the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates on hold.
The bank sector rose 1.14 per cent to become the top gainer among the 33 industry sub-indexes on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Shares of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group rose 1.16 per cent.
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Semiconductor sales to Malaysia also are a focal point of a court case in neighboring Singapore, where prosecutors have charged three men with defrauding customers about the ultimate destination of AI servers - originally shipped from the island nation to Malaysia - that may have contained advanced Nvidia chips. (Nvidia is not the subject of Singapore's investigation and has not been accused of any wrongdoing.) Related: Malaysia Downplays Huawei Deal as US Checks China's AI Reach The export curbs on Malaysia and Thailand would include several measures to ease pressure on companies with significant business operations there, people familiar with the matter said. One provision would allow firms headquartered in the US and a few dozen friendly nations to continue shipping AI chips to both countries, without seeking a license, for a few months after the rule is published, people familiar with the matter said. 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One provision would allow firms headquartered in the US and a few dozen friendly nations to continue shipping AI chips to both countries, without seeking a license, for a few months after the rule is published, people familiar with the matter said. The licence requirements also would still include certain exemptions to prevent supply chain disruptions, the people said. Many semiconductor companies rely on Southeast Asian facilities for crucial manufacturing steps like packaging, the process of encasing chips for use in devices.
