The Nikkei 225 lost the 65,000 level in early trade on tech-led spillover, then closed +0.50% at 65,856.43 as afternoon bargain hunting and a SoftBank rebound took over. Short selling ran at 43.1% of TSE turnover and the Nikkei VI rose to 30.41 — defense is still on.
Monday’s session split in two: the Nikkei 225 dropped 0.74% to 65,528 on heavy selling in SoftBank Group and AI-linked names, while the broader TOPIX edged higher with advancers outnumbering decliners. Short selling hit 45.9% of TSE turnover — the top of its recent range — ahead of Nvidia’s upcoming earnings.
The Nikkei 225 eased 0.30% to 66,016.36 Friday to cap its worst week in over a month, even as TOPIX edged higher. Shipping stocks soared on Hormuz freight-rate expectations, July CPI kept a September BOJ hike in play, and the TSE short-selling ratio climbed to 42.7% — the top of its recent range.
Tokyo’s sell-off deepened Wednesday: the Nikkei 225 lost 3.16% to 65,326.42 as SoftBank Group fell 10.3%, super-long JGB yields pushed higher on BOJ rate-hike speculation, and the TSE short-selling ratio held at a defensive 39.0%.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange has no market-wide circuit breaker. Instead, every stock trades inside a fixed daily yen band set by its price tier — about ±17% for a ¥5,000–7,000 stock — while special quotes pause matching and Osaka futures halt for roughly 10 minutes at their limits. Here is how each layer works and how to read a limit-down stock on the tape.
The Nikkei 225 rose 0.74% to 69,220.25 on Monday, a fifth straight gain led by semiconductors and SoftBank, while the broader TOPIX fell as yields climbed and only 5 of 17 sectors advanced. Short selling ran at 39.4% of TSE turnover.
The Nikkei 225 closed Friday at 68,713.80 (+0.59%) on options SQ day, led by Sony, Nintendo and SoftBank Group, while short-term JGB yields climbed on growing speculation of a BOJ move as early as September. The TSE short-selling ratio came in at 40.9% — mid-range, but still defensive.
The Nikkei 225 tells you what Japan’s most expensive stocks did; TOPIX tells you what the market did. A practical guide to price weighting, the NT ratio, and reading divergences between Japan’s two benchmark indices.
Tokyo returned from the long weekend buying what it had sold: the Nikkei 225 jumped 3.26% to 66,232.19 with Advantest and SoftBank Group leading, all 17 sectors advanced, and the TSE short-selling ratio fell to 31.9% — the least defensive reading in over a week.
The Nikkei 225 fell 4.03% to 64,141.12 on Friday as a global tech rout hit Japanese chip names, with SoftBank Group down 9% and Tokyo Electron down 8.2%. The TSE short-selling ratio, notably, sat at the low end of its recent range — pointing to long liquidation rather than fresh shorting.