Japan's Nikkei rises as SoftBank rebounds from AI-led selloff

Japan's Nikkei share average climbed as technology investor SoftBank Group rebounded from a selloff in the previous session, while traders reassessed calls by executives in U.S. artificial intelligence companies for a slowdown in AI development.

The Nikkei .N225 recouped early losses to rise roughly 1% to 64,082.36 by the midday break. The broader Topix .TOPX was flat at 4,057.06.

Shares of SoftBank 9984.T surged 9.13%, recouping part of the previous session's 10.7% loss after a selloff in AI-linked stocks sparked by warnings from industry leaders about the technology's risks.

"Japan was the first market that was hit by the warning from the AI leaders in the previous session," said Kazuaki Shimada, chief strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities.

"The morning after, investors thought it was too early to judge the fate of the pace of AI investments by hyperscalers," he said.

Memory maker Kioxia 285A.T rose 2.73%. Shares of chip-related Advantest 6857.T and Tokyo Electron 8035.T rose 0.8% and 0.33%, respectively.

Leopalace21 8848.T was untraded amid a glut of buy orders after the apartment operator said Hikari Tsushin, together with investment funds, will launch a 1,000-yen-per-share tender offer for the company.

The Topix slipped as gains in AI-related shares curbed demand for value stocks.

Bank shares fell, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group 8306.T and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group 8316.T losing 0.83% and 1.98%, respectively.

Sony Group 6758.T fell 1.08%.

Of more than 1,500 stocks trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's prime market, 57% rose, 38% fell and 4% traded flat.