Nikkei Gains on Tech Optimism
By wchung | 23 Mar, 2026

Asian stock markets were mixed in early trading Monday, with Japanese tech shares gaining after Google’s upbeat earnings sparked a Nasdaq rally on Friday.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average rose 0.5 percent to 9,548.02 after losing nearly 1 percent before the weekend.

Electronics and entertainment giant Sony Corp. rose 1.4 percent, and Panasonic Corp. added 0.7 percent.

Decliners included Mazda Motor Corp., which fell 0.9 percent after the Nikkei financial daily reported Saturday that Ford Motor co. plans to sell down its 11 percent stake in the Japanese automaker.

Ford said Sunday that its relationship with Mazda has not changed. Nikkei, citing unnamed sources, said partners of Mazda are in talks to buy Ford’s shares and a decision was likely by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.2 percent to 1,898.66, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.4 percent to 4,670.

Australian miners Rio Tinto Ltd. and BHP Billiton Ltd. were weak after scrapping plans for a $120 billion iron ore joint venture in the remote Outback after antitrust regulators in Australia, Europe and Asia opposed it or demanded changes. The cancellation on Monday of the joint venture proposed in the Pilbara region of Western Australia state came as little surprise to markets, because problems with some regulators were already well known.

BHP Billiton Ltd. fell 0.7 percent, and Rio Tinto Ltd. was down 0.1 percent.

On Wall Street on Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average finished down 0.3 percent at 11,062.78. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.2 percent to 1,176.19.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1.4 percent to 2,468.77 as investors cheered solid numbers from Google Inc. Google soared 11 percent after reporting that its net income in the third quarter jumped 32 percent.

TOKYO (AP)