iShares MSCI Japan ETF

EWJ

Market cap $21.5B

Some Japanese financial institutions have been granted access to OpenAI's GPT-5.5 model to help strengthen their defences against cyberattacks, Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said on Friday. Katayama described the development as a significant advancement for Japan's financial sector following a meeting in Tokyo with Jason Kwon, OpenAI's chief strategy officer.

Share markets across Asia fell on Thursday after reports of fresh US military strikes on Iran and missile attacks linked to Kuwait unsettled investors and weakened optimism surrounding a possible peace agreement in the Middle East. Oil prices surged while Treasury yields climbed as investors reacted to escalating tensions and growing concerns over inflation ahead of key US economic data.

Japanese banks are, in a historic shift, competing to shore up their deposit base as lending ​opportunities grow and consumers, seeking to beat inflation, shift their savings into a booming stock market.

Foreign investors continued buying Japanese equities for an eighth consecutive week through May 23, supported by easing oil prices and growing optimism around artificial intelligence-related shares. According to data released by Japan's Ministry of Finance on Thursday, foreign investors purchased a net 1.08 trillion yen ($6.77 billion) worth of Japanese stocks during the week ended May 23.

Japan Investment Corp (JIC), a state-backed fund, is considering ‌selling JSR, two people familiar with the matter said, two years after it took the maker of chipmaking materials private in a $6 billion deal.

Japan's industry ministry said on ​Wednesday that the benchmark ‌for calculating gasoline price subsidies will switch ​back to Dubai ​crude prices from Brent crude ⁠from next week.

Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed to a record high on Wednesday, as a rally in semiconductor shares outweighed weakness in banks and real estate stocks. The benchmark index rose 1.25% to 65,811.78 as of 0147 GMT, after touching an intraday high of 66,428.81.

Japan is set to begin ‌talks with South American trade bloc Mercosur on an economic ​partnership to seek alternative oil sources, ​critical minerals and lower auto ⁠tariffs, the Nikkei newspaper ​reported on Tuesday.

While U.S. markets are closed for Memorial Day, stocks in Europe and Asia soared on Monday amid optimism about a potential end to the Iran war and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index soared 2.87%, while South Korea's KOSPI rose 0.41%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 0.86% and India's BSE Sensex bounced up 1.2%.

Joumanna Bercetche, Tom Mackenzie and Ven Ram break down today's key themes for analysts and investors on "Bloomberg: The Opening Trade."