Japan's Nikkei rises to a record, boosted by reflationist nominations for BOJ board

NEC

25/02/2026 07:16

Updates with closing prices, adds analyst comment on BOJ board appointments

By Satoshi Sugiyama

TOKYO, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average climbed to another record on Wednesday, driven by a surge in tech-related stocks and waning expectations of an imminent policy rate hike after new central bank board member nominations.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index .N225 rose 2.2% to close at 58,583.12 after rising as much as 2.7%. The broader Topix .TOPX gained 0.7% at 3,843.16.

The Japanese government
on Wednesday
 nominated two academics seen by markets as strong advocates of economic stimulus to join the Bank of Japan's nine-member board, in moves seen reflecting Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi administration's monetary policy preferences.

"In the market, some say the appointees to the board are viewed as dovish and, in the short term, are likely to weaken the yen and lift stocks," said Tomoichiro Kubota, senior market analyst at Matsui Securities.

Semiconductor-related shares contributed to lifting the Nikkei index the most, with chip-testing equipment maker Advantest 6857.T rising 7.5%, to push up the index by more than 520 points, while chipmaking equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron's 8035.T 4.2% jump helped the index rise by over 180 points.

IT services firm NEC Corp 6701.T rose 2.4%, after a 6.2% tumble the previous day, as investors' apprehension over artificial intelligence disruption eased.

Nomura Research Institute <4307.T> shares surged as much as 9% before retreating and were still up 6.7% following an announcement that the consulting firm had set up support services for introducing Anthropic's Claude and would further collaborate with the AI lab.

On Wednesday, there were 142 advancers on the Nikkei index against 80 decliners.

The largest percentage decliner was Nippon Steel 5401.T with a 5.5% drop, after the Japanese steelmaker said on Tuesday it would increase its convertible bond offering to $3.9 billion, the biggest in Japan's corporate history.

 (Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Ronojoy Mazumdar)

 ((Satoshi.Sugiyama@thomsonreuters.com;))