Japan's Nikkei slips to 5-month low as chip stocks track Nvidia slump
TOKYO, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average fell to a five-month low on Friday as chip-related stocks tracked Nvidia's sharp overnight declines, with Advantest tanking more than 8%.
The Nikkei .N225 fell 2.7% to 37,237.49 as of 0116 GMT, while the broader Topix .TOPX lost 1.9% to 2,683.9.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended sharply lower overnight, weighed down by an 8.5% slump in chipmaker Nvidia NVDA.O after its quarterly report failed to rekindle Wall Street's AI rally, while investors focused on data pointing to a cooling U.S. economy. .N
"Investors had some hope on chip-related shares after seeing Nvidia's outlook in the previous session, but they dumped those today after seeing the market reaction to Nvidia," said Seiichi Suzuki, chief equity market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory.
Japanese chip-related stocks, key components of the index, showed mixed movements in the last session, as they awaited Nvidia's performance on Wall Street. The Nikkei gained 0.3% on Thursday.
Overnight, Nvidia tumbled 8.5% after the Silicon Valley company gave a weaker-than-expected quarterly forecast for gross margin that overshadowed an upbeat revenue outlook.
In Japan, chip-testing equipment maker Advantest 6857.T, a supplier to Nvidia, tanked 8.8% to drag Nikkei the most.
Chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron 8035.T slipped 3.8%.
Fujikura 5803.T, which makes cables for data centres, slipped 8.8%, while its peer Furukawa Electric 5801.T lost 5.5%.
Nikkei's gains this year have been capped by worries about the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats and concerns about the Bank of Japan's interest rate policy.
"Today, the market had another blow," said Suzuki.
"But the losses of the Topix are smaller than the Nikkei's. So the question is whether we see the Nikkei index or Japanese equities overall."
Of the more than 1,600 stocks trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's prime market, 14% rose, 82% fell and 2% traded flat.
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