Nikkei 225 Hits Record High as SoftBank Gains Over 10%

Japan's Nikkei 225 hit an all-time high on Thursday, closing at 44,396.95 as tech behemoth SoftBank Group rose over 10% for a second day in a row. The rally followed Wall Street gains, buoyed by optimism about U.S. rate cuts and softer inflation readings.

SoftBank's rise followed news that OpenAI had obtained a $300 billion, five-year cloud-computing contract with Oracle. The announcement followed Oracle's stunning 36% surge in U.S. trading on the back of robust cloud demand projections. Analysts cited the link between Oracle and SoftBank through their shared involvement in the $500 billion Stargate program unveiled earlier this year by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Energy and utility shares also supported the Nikkei, with Mitsui Mining and Smelting climbing more than 5% and Fujikura rising 4%. The Topix index for a broader range of shares reversed losses to rise 0.2%.

In the region, South Korea's Kospi rose 0.65% and China's CSI 300 gained 1.77%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.44% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dipped 0.29%. India's Sensex rose 0.15% while the Nifty 50 remained unchanged.

In the United States, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite ended at record highs following producer prices that indicated a softening of inflation. Nevertheless, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.48% after Apple's shares plunged following a muted reception to its new iPhone offering.