Nikkei Closes at 63,268.37 After Rising 1.7% as Technology Stocks Rebound
Key Facts
Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed at 63,268.37 on Oct. 27, up 1.7%, recovering after 3 consecutive sessions of declines. The Associated Press said technology and chip stocks advanced as optimism around artificial intelligence returned. Advantest, which specializes in chip-testing equipment, rose 9.6%, while SoftBank Group gained 5%. The move came as part of a broader rise in Asian stocks after an AI-led rally on Wall Street. Investors are also watching major companies’ results and upcoming central bank decisions.
The Associated Press’s market-closing report attributed gains in Japanese stocks to optimism that supported technology shares, with chips prominent in Tokyo trading. Reports by the agency and Reuters also linked the move to Anthropic’s filing of IPO registration papers, alongside gains in technology and chip stocks, without treating the filing as the sole driver of the market’s rise. Advantest and SoftBank’s gains showed how the rally extended to Japanese stocks tied to AI technologies and investment in them. Advantest rose 9.6% in the session, while SoftBank Group gained 5%. The Associated Press described SoftBank as an investor in OpenAI in its coverage of moves in stocks linked to the sector.
Anthropic filed an S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Oct. 26 and applied to list its Class A shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “ANT.” The company said in its filing: “We have applied to list our Class A common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol ANT.” This means the company has begun registration and listing procedures, not that trading in its shares has already started. The filing came before the Nikkei session, in which demand for chip and technology stocks returned. Interest in the filing widened alongside the rally in AI stocks, but market reports linked the move to a range of factors, not the company’s filing alone.
Anthropic’s figures show rapid revenue growth alongside notable reliance on a limited group of customers. The Associated Press reported that the company’s revenue in the first half of 2026 was about 14 times its level in the same period a year earlier. But its top 5 customers accounted for about 25% of its revenue during 2026, according to the company’s prospectus as cited by the agency. That puts revenue growth and customer concentration at the heart of the information the registration filing made available to investors as they assess a potential offering. These figures link market interest in an AI company to a broader context than the performance of sector stocks in Tokyo, without by themselves establishing an effect on the Nikkei’s movement.
After the market rebound, attention turned to the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy meeting scheduled for Oct. 29 and 30. The bank’s calendar sets the release of its policy statement for Oct. 30, while the “Bank’s View” version of its Outlook Report will be published immediately after the meeting. The full text of the report will be released on the following business day at 2:00 p.m., according to the calendar. Reuters reported on Oct. 20, citing sources familiar with the matter, that the bank was likely to leave interest rates unchanged at the meeting ending on Oct. 30, with a possible increase in its inflation forecast for the next fiscal year. These remain estimates attributed to the sources who spoke to Reuters, while the bank’s calendar confirmed neither a specific interest rate level nor a decision in advance.