The Japanese stock market, which was shaken by the rise of the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) startup DeepSeek, showed an upward trend for two consecutive trading days.
The Nikkei average stock price (Nikkei 225 index) closed at ¥39,513.97 on the 30th, rising 0.25% (¥99.19) compared to the previous day. The Nikkei 225 index fell to ¥39,016.87 on the 28th but showed a recovery trend for two consecutive trading days, following the previous day.
Among the top market capitalization stocks that day, Toyota Motor Corporation, Hitachi, and Fast Retailing showed an upward trend. In particular, the rebound of semiconductor stocks was prominent. Tokyo Electron's stock price rose by 1.87% compared to the previous day, and Disco's stock price also increased by 1.26% during the same period.
Advantest's stock price jumped 4.36% the previous day and rose another 3.22% that day. Advantest noted that demand for AI semiconductor testing equipment is expected to remain strong, significantly influencing its upward revision of the annual operating profit forecast by 37%.
Like the U.S. stock market, the Japanese market experienced the DeepSeek shock. This was because DeepSeek presented an AI model "DeepSeek R1" that required only one-tenth of the investment compared to existing U.S. corporations while offering comparable quality. Concerns grew that investments in semiconductors and data center infrastructure could decline more than expected, causing Japanese semiconductor corporations to exhibit a decline of around 10% during the 27th and 28th.
In this situation, Advantest's upward adjustment of its guidance eased market concerns. The fact that major big tech companies, including Meta Platforms, decided not to reduce AI-related investments also contributed to improving investor sentiment.
However, the domestic stock market, which avoided the DeepSeek shock due to the Lunar New Year holiday, may face fluctuations centered on the semiconductor sector when it opens on the 31st. The iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY), which has a weight of over 30% in assets like Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, fell by 2.65% during the Lunar New Year holiday.