Japan's Nikkei Touches Record High On Tech Optimism; Softbank, Topix Slump

By Rocky Swift

TOKYO, May 14 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average rose for a third day on Thursday to hit a record high, riding a wave of technology sector enthusiasm that overshadowed a slump in the broader market.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index .N225 was up 0.37% at 63,507.09 after touching an unprecedented 63,799.32 earlier in the day. The broader Topix .TOPX slid 0.47% to 3,901.25.

Tech shares helped Wall Street indexes notch record closing levels overnight. And as the earnings season in Japan winds to a close, Topix-listed companies are set to post nearly 6% growth in net profit, an SMBC Nikko Securities tally showed on Wednesday, driven in part by artificial intelligence-linked demand.

"Technology, semiconductor, and electronic component-related stocks are leading the Japanese stock market today," said Wataru Akiyama, an equities strategist at Nomura Securities.

"Looking at the performance of individual stocks today, there are still quite a few being sold off due to negative earnings, so investor caution is warranted."

SoftBank Group 9984.T, an AI investor that has been a big contributor to gains in the Nikkei this year, said on Wednesday that its net profit more than tripled in the January-March quarter. Even so, the company's shares slid 2.6%.

There were 96 advancers on the Nikkei index against 129 decliners. The largest percentage gainers in the index were Tokai Carbon 5301.T, up 15%, followed by Rohm Co 6963.T, which jumped 13.8%.

The largest losers were Mitsubishi Materials 5711.T, down 11.3%, followed by Dai Nippon Printing 7912.T, which slid 10.8%.