The Nikkei 225 shrugged off a near-1,000-point intraday plunge to close up 0.74% at 67,743.50, as bargain-hunters overwhelmed early geopolitical selling. SoftBank, Advantest and the megabanks led the turn; the yen sat near 40-year lows at 162.34.
The Nikkei 225 fell 1.92% to 67,242.73 on Monday as Middle East escalation and an Asia-wide rout hammered chip stocks, while banks led a small band of gainers. Short selling ran at 38.9% of TSE turnover and the Nikkei VI held at stressed levels.
Tokyo ended the week with a tech-led advance: the Nikkei 225 rose 1.20% to 68,557.73 on options SQ day, SoftBank Group jumped 10.65%, and the yen firmed to 161.67. Beneath the rally, the TSE short-selling ratio held at an elevated 41.6% and 43% of loanable issues carried squeeze premiums.