In today’s trading session, Asian stock markets were mostly down following fresh record highs on Wall Street, fueled by significant gains in semiconductor companies. 

Japan’s Nikkei 225, on the other hand, surpassed the 41,000 mark for the first time but fell right back, trading at 0.1% lower at 40,763.88.

Leading the charge were bank and technology stocks, responding to the Bank of Japan removing negative rates and remarks made by the Bank of Japan’s Governor Kazuo Ueda on Thursday. The BoJ Governor reaffirmed that the central bank’s monetary policy would remain accommodative in the near term. Meanwhile, the Japanese Yen became weaker against the US dollar despite Nikkei 225 and export-linked stocks surging up. 

Bank stocks also contributed to the early gains. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. surged by 1.34% and 1.62%, respectively, extending their positive momentum from Thursday. 

Softbank Group Corp and Tokyo Electron Ltd. also went up by 0.49% and 1.27%, respectively. 

Despite Japan’s inflation showing an increase in its annual core inflation rate to 2.8%, investors remain unbothered. Market sentiment also suggests that there is an anticipation for the Bank of Japan to maintain its accommodative stance to prevent any stimulating demand-driven inflationary pressures.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index went down by 2.9% to 16,381.86 and Shanghai Composite also dropped by 1.4% to 3,033.77.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 dropped by 0.4% to 7,753.20. While Bangkok’s SET went down slightly by 0.1% and Taiwan’s Taiex was also down by 0.4%