The Nikkei 225 rose 0.4% to above 38,600 on Friday, recovering some of the previous session's losses as investors digested Japan's latest inflation figures. Headline inflation eased slightly to 3.5% in May from 3.6% in the previous two months, the lowest level since November 2024.
However, core inflation, which excludes fresh food but includes energy, rose for a third straight month to 3.7%, the highest since January 2023. This reinforced expectations that the Bank of Japan will continue to tighten monetary policy in response to persistent inflationary pressures.
Externally, geopolitical concerns continued to weigh on broader sentiment, with reports that U.S. President Donald Trump is considering an attack on Iran. However, tech stocks led the gains, with notable advances from Advantest (+4.4%), Disco (+2.6%), Lasertec (+2.7%), SoftBank Group (+1.3%), and Socionext (+4.6%).(alg)
Source: Trading Economics
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