Published On 9/7/2026
European and Japanese stocks rose today, Thursday, supported by a recovery in technology and semiconductor stocks, at a time when investors continued to follow developments in the escalation between the United States and Iran and its effects on energy prices, inflation, and the global economy.
The European STOXX 600 index rose by about 0.4% to about 638.5 points at the time of writing these lines, in volatile trading, supported by a rise in technology and metal stocks, with a temporary decline in investor concerns about the high valuations of artificial intelligence companies.
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In chip stocks, ASML stock in Amsterdam rose 2.54% to 1,567.8 euros, Celtronic stock rose 3.79%, while Switech stock declined 0.9%, indicating that the improvement in investor appetite for semiconductor companies remained selective within the sector.
Sentiment in global markets was strengthened after a report stated that China may allow local artificial intelligence companies to obtain limited quantities of NVIDIA chips, which strengthened expectations of continued demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure.
On the other hand, the markets continued to monitor the developments of the war in the Middle East, after US President Donald Trump said that Iran wanted to “reach an agreement,” despite his announcement the previous day of the end of the temporary agreement with Tehran, at a time when the United States carried out new raids on Iran, which raised investors’ fears about the expansion of the scope of the conflict.
Oil prices also fell slightly during the session, as investors evaluated the political and military developments, after having recorded strong gains in the previous session due to escalating tensions.
Spanish stocks recorded the best performance among European markets, as the IBEX 35 index rose by about 1% to about 19,301 points at the time of writing these lines, recovering from its lowest levels in 3 weeks, after Trump described Spain as “very generous” following his decision to stop trade with it due to the level of its contribution to NATO.
On the other hand, AstraZeneca shares fell by about 9% in London to 129.58 pounds sterling (about 173.7 dollars), after the drug “Winoa” failed to achieve the main goal of an advanced clinical trial by reducing cardiovascular deaths and recurrent cardiovascular events in patients with transthyretin-mediated amyloid cardiomyopathy.
Nikki goes up
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei index ended a 3-day losing streak, rising 1.4% to 67,743.85 points, while the broader Topix index rose 0.4%.
Semiconductor companies led the Japanese market’s gains, as memory chip maker Kioxia rose 8.3%, Advantest rose 5.9%, and Tokyo Electron rose 5.5%.
These gains came after the rise of the US Nasdaq index, supported by a chip supply agreement between Broadcom and Apple worth more than $30 billion, in addition to news related to allowing Chinese companies to obtain Nvidia chips.
Wataru Akiyama, an equity analyst at Nomura Securities, said the China-related news “appears to have heightened expectations of business expansion across Nvidia’s supply chain, including in Japan.”
But optimism in the Japanese market remained limited with oil prices rising by about 1%, which put pressure on the sectors that consume the most fuel, as the air transport companies index fell by 2.2%, and the transportation equipment sector fell by 1.9%.
The jump in oil prices also contributed to renewed fears of inflation, pushing ten-year Japanese government bond yields to their highest levels in three decades, while the real estate sector fell 1.3% as expectations of higher interest rates rose.
