Nikkei 225 Drops Over 1% in Early Trade, SoftBank Falls Nearly 7%, Kioxia Drops Over 4%; South Korean Markets Closed

TradingKey - On October 9, the Japanese stock market weakened in early trading, with the Nikkei 225 Index opening down 0.57% at 68,648.50 points, before expanding its decline to 1.03% at 68,330.05 points. Meanwhile, South Korea's stock market was closed for a holiday, with no trading conducted for the day.

Source: TradingView

Japanese tech stocks generally came under pressure, with SoftBank Group dropping 6.77% in early trading to 5,631 yen (approximately $36); Kioxia fell 4.13% to 17,160 yen.

Overnight U.S. stocks showed mixed performance as a pullback in tech stocks weighed on the Nasdaq and the S&P 500. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.10% to 51,231.64 points; the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.25% to 27,193.34 points; and the S&P 500 Index dropped 0.47% to 7,765.36 points. The weakness in U.S. tech stocks also weighed on the early performance of Japanese tech stocks.

On the geopolitical front, U.S. President Trump stated on social media on October 8 that the U.S. and Iran were holding "productive" discussions, adding that the U.S. would not launch an attack on Iran prior to the midterm elections on November 3.