Japanese Shares Track Wall Street Lower
2026-07-17 00:28
By
Jam Kaimo Samonte
1 min. read
The Nikkei 225 Index fell 2.8% to below 65,000, while the broader Topix Index declined 1.3% to 3,975 on Friday, extending losses from the previous session and following Wall Street lower after a sharp selloff in semiconductor stocks.
The weakness came as investors increasingly questioned whether the elevated valuations of AI-related chipmakers remain justified by the industry's ambitious growth expectations.
Market sentiment was also pressured by the escalating conflict between the US and Iran, which pushed oil prices higher and kept inflationary pressures and interest rate concerns in focus.
Technology and AI-related stocks led the declines in Japan, with Kioxia Holdings plunging 15%, Tokyo Electron falling 4.5%, SoftBank Group losing 6.3%, Advantest dropping 5.9%, and Murata Manufacturing sliding 7.7%.
The Nikkei 225 and Topix indexes are now on track to post weekly losses of nearly 6% and 2%, respectively.