SoftBank Group Shares Rally as AI Stocks Lead Market Recovery

By Kosaku Narioka

SoftBank Group's shares rallied, as artificial-intelligence-related stocks lead a recovery from the rout triggered by the Iran war.

The Japanese technology investment company's shares were recently 3.9% higher at 5,840 yen, equivalent to $36.62, on Thursday after rising as much as 9.6% earlier. The stock has risen about 64% in April following declines in the previous three months.

Demand related to AI, data centers and defense is expected to be relatively stable even as ripples from the war in the Middle East could weigh on other sectors, said Fumio Matsumoto, chief strategist at Okasan Securities.

SoftBank Group's gains come as Japan's benchmark Nikkei Stock Average briefly topped 60000 for the first time, driven by strength in chip and defense stocks. The index has risen about 15% so far this month after the Iran conflict triggered broad-based selling and pushed the index 13% lower in March.

Okasan's Matsumoto said some traders might be buying shares of SoftBank Group, an index heavyweight, along with Nikkei futures, to drive the index higher.

SoftBank Group's shares had lagged behind some AI-related stocks earlier this year because of fears about the competitive position of its key investment, OpenAI. Rival Anthropic has emerged as a dominant AI provider for businesses due in part to the viral success of its coding and AI agent products.

However, those concerns could be easing. OpenAI is working with consulting companies to help sell its Codex AI coding tool to businesses, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week.

The ChatGPT maker also said Tuesday that it reached four million weekly active Codex users, up from three million just two weeks ago.

Write to Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 23, 2026 00:19 ET (04:19 GMT)