Nikkei falls 1.23% to lowest since May 1 on profit-taking
Japan's Nikkei index slid 1.23% on Wednesday, closing at its lowest since May 1 after five days of losses.
Investors are taking profits from AI-related stocks that earlier pushed the market to record highs, with more than 80% of prime market shares ending lower.
SoftBank Group falls, Ube Corp rises
SoftBank Group led declines with a 6% fall, and Tokyo Electron dropped 2.25%.
Fujikura, a key supplier for AI data centers, tumbled more than 8% after disappointing profit forecasts, prompting Kazuaki Shimada, chief strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities, to call it an appropriate adjustment of Nikkei's reliance on a small group of shares for the market.
Still, not all was gloomy: Advantest edged up ahead of NVIDIA's earnings report, and Ube Corp soared nearly 21% after announcing bigger dividend payouts.