Published on 09/09/2026 at 03:19 am EDT
(Reuters) - Japanese share indexes ended in the red on Wednesday as an escalation in the Middle East crisis weighed against a rekindling of enthusiasm about AI-related companies.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up for most of the day, rising as much as 0.8%, before losing steam and ending 0.19% lower at 65,142.78. The broader Topix slipped 0.09% to 4,046.64.
Iran said it fired ballistic missiles at a base in Jordan used by the U.S. military and attacked 10 ships on Wednesday, after the U.S. said it had destroyed five Iranian oil tankers.
News overnight that Verizon signed a multi-billion-dollar deal with Corning to supply high-density optical fibre for AI infrastructure boosted Japanese cable makers such as Fujikura, said Maki Sawada, an equities strategist at Nomura Securities.
"With the situation in the Middle East deteriorating, crude oil prices are rising and concerns over accelerating inflation appear to be weighing on Japanese shares," Sawada said. "On the other hand, semiconductor and AI-related shares are performing strongly."
Business confidence among big Japanese manufacturers climbed in September to its highest level since December 2021, buoyed by robust semiconductor and data-centre-related demand, a Reuters monthly poll showed on Wednesday.
Breadth was nearly even, with 113 advancers on the Nikkei 225 against 110 decliners and two unchanged.
The largest losers were Kyowa Kirin, down 5.88%, followed by DeNA, 4.65% lower, and Sumitomo Pharma , which lost 4.33%.
The largest percentage gainers in the index were Furukawa Electric, up 12.63%, followed by Tokai Carbon, which rose 9.27% to mark its highest close since October 2018, and Fujikura, which gained 8.07%.
(Reporting by Rocky Swift in Tokyo; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Janane Venkatraman)

Sumber : Reuters