Japanese Shares Fall as Tech Drags
2026-02-27 00:43
By
Jam Kaimo Samonte
1 min. read
The Nikkei 225 declined 0.8% to below 58,300 on Friday, retreating from record highs and mirroring Wall Street’s losses as technology shares came under renewed selling pressure despite strong earnings from Nvidia.
The latest pullback underscored lingering market sensitivity to AI-related concerns, even as investors continue to channel funds into Asian tech companies viewed as key beneficiaries of the ongoing AI build-out.
Japanese equities were also weighed down by hawkish signals from the Bank of Japan, after Governor Kazuo Ueda and board member Hajime Takata kept the possibility of a near-term rate hike on the table.
Their stance contrasted with more dovish signals from Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government, which recently nominated two reflation-leaning academics to the BOJ’s policy board.
Technology names led the decline, including Advantest (-5.4%), Fujikura (-2.9%), Disco Corp (-4.5%), Tokyo Electron (-2.9%) and SoftBank Group (-3.6%).