iShares MSCI Japan Small-Cap ETF

SCJ

Market cap $241M

Asian equities fell on Tuesday as doubts over a Middle East ceasefire weighed on risk appetite, offsetting optimism around artificial intelligence funding and potential listings. MSCI's Asia-Pacific index excluding Japan slipped 0.6% after a volatile open.

Japan stock have already had a record run, and one of the largest Wall Street banks believes their rally is far from over yet. Goldman Sachs strategists have raised their 12-month target for the benchmark Topix index to 4,400, indicating potential upside of more than 10% from current levels.

Japan must promote usage of yen-based stablecoins for settlement in Asia and create a legal framework to allow trading of ​crypto exchange-traded funds (ETF), a ruling party panel said in a proposal ‌to the government on Monday.

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.

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.