Japan Market Daily | Kabutaro & Friends

On May 21, 2026, the Nikkei 225 rebounded sharply for the first time in six days, closing up 1,879 yen at 61,684 yen to reclaim the 60,000 threshold. Market sentiment turned risk-on after U.S. President Trump indicated that talks with Iran were in their final stages, causing Brent crude to plunge over 5% to around 105 dollars per barrel. This drop alleviated severe inflation concerns and halted the rise in global sovereign bond yields, sparking widespread short-covering. Stocks were further boosted by a broad rally in chip shares following NVIDIA's strong earnings and a surge in SoftBank Group on OpenAI listing reports. In the FX market, the dollar slightly depreciated against major peers, though the USD/JPY cross touched the 159 range. However, during U.S. trading hours, oil prices bounced back up following comments from Iran's Supreme Leader, highlighting persistent geopolitical volatility.