Nikkei 225 Rises 1.10% on Oct 29, 2026 as Advantest Lifts Chip Stocks

Key takeaways

• The Nikkei 225 rose 705.28 points, or 1.10%, to 64,659.47 on Thursday, October 29, 2026, its third straight gain, according to Jiji Press and Yahoo Finance data.
• The broader TOPIX added 11.57 points, or 0.29%, to 4,003.28, closing back above the 4,000 mark.
• Advantest jumped 6.01% to ¥37,030 after raising its full-year forecasts, while Hitachi was the Nikkei's worst performer, falling 9.77% to ¥5,071 after a drop in quarterly net income.
• Breadth was weak: 1,989 Tokyo Stock Exchange issues fell and 1,481 rose, Investing.com reported, so the headline gain rested on a handful of chip stocks.
• The yen was little changed at 157.80 per dollar at the Tokyo close, and the 10-year JGB yield edged up to 2.836% as the Bank of Japan began its two-day meeting.

Session recap

Japan's Nikkei 225 closed 1.10% higher at 64,659.47 on October 29, 2026, as a profit upgrade from chip-test equipment maker Advantest outweighed losses in Hitachi and other large industrial names. The index opened at 64,126.25 and traded between 63,749.20 and 64,831.29, according to Yahoo Finance data. For the wider region, see Asian and global markets today; for Wednesday's session, when SK Hynix results lifted Tokyo chip stocks, see our October 28 Japan daily brief. The table compares Thursday's close with Wednesday's close of 63,954.19 (Nikkei) and 3,991.71 (TOPIX).

The gain came late. At the midday break the Nikkei was up only 0.3% at 64,131.28 and the TOPIX was down 0.3% at 3,979.89, Reuters reported via Business Recorder. More of the Nikkei's 225 members fell than rose in the morning (123 to 99), and the index briefly turned negative after Samsung Electronics' results in Seoul. December Nikkei futures on the Osaka Exchange settled at 64,730, up 200, according to Jiji Press.

What drove it

Advantest's forecast upgrade carried the index

Advantest raised its annual operating profit forecast by 14% after Wednesday's close, Reuters reported via Business Recorder. The company lifted its revenue forecast for the year ending March 2027 to ¥1.863 trillion from ¥1.714 trillion and its net profit forecast to ¥741.5 billion from ¥660 billion, and announced a share buyback of up to ¥280 billion, IBTimes reported. The stock rose as much as 9.1% during the day. Because the Nikkei is price-weighted, a high-priced share such as Advantest has an outsized effect: in the morning it added 408 points while the index as a whole was up only 177, according to Reuters via Business Recorder. IBTimes estimated that Advantest accounted for about two-thirds of the full-day gain.

Other chip-related names were firmer by the close. Tokyo Electron gained 2.35% and SoftBank Group 1.77%, both after trading lower in the morning, while Kioxia added 1.15% following its 13.76% jump on Wednesday.

Hitachi slides on lower quarterly profit

Hitachi fell 9.77%, the Nikkei's biggest percentage decliner, even though it raised its full-year profit forecast. Investing.com reported that second-quarter revenue rose 15% to a record ¥2.904 trillion, but net income attributable to shareholders fell to ¥227.1 billion from ¥280.6 billion, hit by a one-time cost overrun on a social infrastructure project that management said should not recur. Komatsu (−7.56%) and NEC (−6.39%) were also among the day's largest decliners; the specific causes of those moves were not confirmed in the sources reviewed for this brief.

Samsung reaction and nervous breadth

Samsung Electronics fell sharply in Seoul despite record quarterly results; Euronews reported a 5.4% decline as South Korea's Kospi dropped 2.2%. That briefly pushed the Nikkei negative in the morning. "Ahead of these events, the market is perhaps showing a bit of nervousness," Nomura equities strategist Maki Sawada said, according to Reuters via Business Recorder. Decliners outnumbered advancers on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 1,989 to 1,481, with 244 unchanged, and the Nikkei Volatility index rose 18.87% to 32.88, Investing.com reported. TOPIX's modest 0.29% gain against the Nikkei's 1.10% rise reflects that narrow leadership.

Yen, bonds and oil

USD/JPY stood at 157.80 at the Tokyo close, little changed from 157.87 a day earlier, per Yahoo Finance data. The 10-year JGB yield rose to 2.836% from 2.826%, according to Investing.com; Trading Economics described the yield as steady around 2.83% as investors awaited the BoJ. Brent crude fell 1.2% to $110.32 a barrel, Euronews reported, still far above pre-Iran-war levels — a cost pressure for an energy importer like Japan that a weak yen amplifies.

Political & policy watch

Fed holds, BoJ starts its meeting

The US Federal Reserve held its benchmark rate at 3.75% to 4% on Wednesday, IBTimes and TradingKey reported, and two Fed officials favored a hike, according to Euronews. The Bank of Japan's two-day Monetary Policy Meeting began on Thursday, with the decision and quarterly Outlook Report due on Friday, October 30, per the BoJ schedule. Economists generally expect the policy rate to stay around 1.25%, IBTimes reported, after a 7–2 vote in September. Board member Junko Koeda has said the bank "should not become overly cautious about raising the policy interest rate," IBTimes reported. For background on the Fed debate, see our explainer on the Fed's October rate-hike debate.

Corporate governance and geopolitics

Nidec missed an October 28 deadline to submit corrected financial reports with an auditor's opinion and plans to file an internal controls report with the Tokyo Stock Exchange on October 30, IBTimes reported. On geopolitics, US officials warned that renewed military action against Iran could come after the November 3 US midterm elections, Euronews reported, keeping oil-price risk in view for Japan and import-dependent economies across Asia, including ASEAN markets.

What to watch next

• October 30: Bank of Japan policy decision and quarterly Outlook Report at the end of the October 29–30 meeting, per the BoJ.
• October 30: Nidec's planned internal controls report to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, per IBTimes.
• October 29–30: Hundreds of Japanese companies report quarterly results, Reuters reported via Business Recorder.
• Coming releases: Japanese domestic data on unemployment, industrial production, retail sales and Tokyo inflation, which Trading Economics said investors were watching.
• November 3: US midterm elections, flagged by Euronews as a possible trigger for renewed tension over Iran.
• December 17–18: Next BoJ Monetary Policy Meeting, per the BoJ.

Risk checklist for readers

• Price-weighting matters. One stock such as Advantest can drive most of a Nikkei gain; compare the move with the TOPIX and advance/decline figures before reading it as a broad rally.
• Earnings season brings single-stock gaps. Hitachi fell almost 10% on a day it raised guidance; results are judged against expectations, not just against last year.
• Central bank events are scheduled volatility. The BoJ decision on October 30 can move the yen, JGB yields and bank shares within minutes.
• Currency risk cuts both ways. A weak yen tends to support exporters' reported profits but raises import costs, especially for energy.
• Volatility gauges. A rising Nikkei Volatility index signals that options traders expect larger swings, not a direction.
• Check primary sources. Company forecasts appear first in filings on TDnet, and policy decisions on the BoJ website; media summaries can differ in timing and rounding.

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• Japan daily brief, Oct 22, 2026: Nikkei sinks 2.7% on chip selloff
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This article is for information only and is not investment advice.