Overview
- Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 dropped as much as more than 700 yen intraday on December 15 and closed down 668.44 at 50,168.11 after U.S. AI jitters sparked selling in semiconductor-linked shares.
- Domestic-demand names such as retailers and banks held firm, and TOPIX set a fresh intraday high, highlighting divergence between tech cyclicals and the broader market.
- The pullback follows a year when the Nikkei first reached the 50,000-yen level, supported by Tokyo Stock Exchange governance initiatives that spurred higher dividends, buybacks and profit gains.
- Foreign interest has persisted, with about $1.2 billion flowing into BlackRock’s iShares MSCI Japan ETF over the two and a half years since April 2023, reversing earlier outflows.
- JPX chief Yuuki Yamamichi says overseas investors now acknowledge corporate and market changes, as portfolio managers shift focus to whether excess cash will fund R&D and capital spending.