The Nikkei average rebounded, finishing the morning session at 39,533.55 yen, up 63.11 yen (estimated volume 0.8 billion 12.46 million shares).

Last weekend, the Dow average in the U.S. market ended down 86.06 dollars at 43,828.06 dollars, while the Nasdaq finished up 23.88 points at 19,926.72 points. Major corporate earnings were positively received. However, the Dow turned negative due to selling influenced by expectations of a slowdown in the Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts and profit-taking selling, remaining soft throughout the day. Although the Nasdaq was weighed down by higher interest rates, the rise in Semiconductors Broadcom (AVGO) pushed the index up, maintaining strength throughout the day.

In sight of the mixed ending of the U.S. stock market, today’s Nikkei average started rebounding at 39,551.22 yen, up 80.78 yen from the previous weekend. Following the Chicago Futures, there was a slight lead in buying, but the movement remained marginal after the opening. Semiconductor-related stocks, which had seen buying due to last weekend's rise in U.S. semiconductor stocks, expanded their gains. Additionally, in the October machinery order Statistics, the order amount (seasonally adjusted) for 'civilian demand excluding ships and electrical utilities' increased by 2.1% from the previous month, leading to some rise in machinery-related stocks due to increased confidence in capital investment.

Individually, semiconductor-related stocks such as Disco, Tokyo Electron, and Advantest showed strong performance, along with financial stocks like Mitsubishi UFJ and Sumitomo Mitsui. Additionally, Fujikura, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, SOFTBANK GROUP CO, Panasonic HD, and Ceres saw increases. Moreover, Dansei Co, which upwardly revised its performance and dividend forecasts, skyrocketed, and Kobe Bussan, which revised its medium-term targets upward due to better-than-expected performance in the previous term, ranked high in terms of price increase rate.

On the other hand, companies like Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Fast Retailing, Sony Group Corp, Recruit Holdings, Tokio Marine, Keyence, and Rakuten experienced declines. Link-U Group, which was seen as a sell factor due to flat Q1 earnings and off-exchange sales, as well as Yaman, which continued to see double-digit operating profit declines for the August-October period, plummeted. Additionally, Advance Create, Sumida Corporation, and Askul saw significant decreases.

By sector, Textiles & Apparels, Rubber Products, and Metal Products increased while Petroleum & Coal Products, Land Transportation, and Air Transportation decreased.

In the afternoon session, the Nikkei stock average is expected to continue a heavy trend due to a lack of strong buying material. This week, the FOMC will meet on the 17th-18th, and the Bank of Japan will hold its monetary policy meeting on the 18th-19th. While many anticipate a 0.25% rate cut at the FOMC, the likelihood of a 0.25% rate hike at the Bank of Japan meeting seems about even. From late November to early December, expectations for a rate hike at the December meeting are strong, and the rise in financial stocks like banks and Insurance has been somewhat noticeable, but recently reports of a postponed rate hike in December have slightly dampened the tone. After passing the final event of the year, the US-Japan central bank meeting, and with the major SQ also concluded, market participants will soon enter Christmas break, leading to a decrease in trading volume on the Main Board. Unless a surprising material emerges, the trend seems likely to continue just below 0.04 million yen until the end of the year.