SoftBank Surge Pushes Nikkei Above 67,000, Tops Toyota

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose above 67,000 on Monday after a strong gain in SoftBank Group. The index climbed as much as 1.4% to an intraday high of 67,231.28 and stood at 67,038.24 at midday, up 1.1%.

SoftBank advanced 10.3% and accounted for 618 points of the Nikkei’s 709-point intraday rise. The company’s market value reached about ¥47.2 trillion, exceeding Toyota’s market value of roughly ¥45.7 trillion and placing SoftBank as the largest listed company in Japan for the session.

The rally focused on stocks tied to artificial intelligence infrastructure and advanced electronics. The information technology sector rose 4.3%, while the autos sector fell 4.2%. The broader Topix index declined 0.2%, indicating limited participation across the market.

Individual moves included Murata Manufacturing, which climbed about 14.1%, and Mitsubishi Motors, which fell about 9.1%. Semiconductor-related names showed mixed performance, with some firms advancing and others, including Advantest and Fujikura, retreating.

Because the Nikkei is a price-weighted index, large moves in a few high-priced stocks can have an outsized effect on the index level. Market participants have focused buying on companies seen to benefit from increased demand for data centers, chips and AI computing equipment.

The pattern in Tokyo mirrored price action in other markets where shares of companies supplying AI chips, servers, networking gear and cloud infrastructure have led gains. On Monday, SoftBank’s rise placed it above Toyota in market-value rankings for the session and highlighted the concentration of gains among technology-linked heavyweights.