Japan's Nikkei jumps as tech results revive AI optimism

TOKYO, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share gauge jumped on Wednesday, as results from technology firms reinvigorated optimism in the AI sector.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 .N225 advanced 1.26% to 64,067.10 at the midday break. The broader Topix .TOPX slipped 0.02% to 3,996.53.

The S&P 500 .SPX rose 0.60% and the Nasdaq .IXIC gained 1.18% on Tuesday, with technology leading sector gains and energy lagging. Meta Platforms META.O fell overnight after it increased its equity fundraising to $97.5 billion to fund AI expansion, with Nvidia NVDA.O and AMD AMD.O committing to the offering.

On Wednesday, South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix 000660.KS announced shareholder returns of about $75 billion after reporting a more than seven-fold rise in quarterly profit.

With AI-related companies, a pattern is emerging where shares tend to decline on news of massive spending and fundraising, whereas signs of increased profitability push the stock prices higher, said Maki Sawada, an equities strategist at Nomura Securities.

"As we head into the weekend, a series of earnings announcements from closely watched semiconductor-related stocks are due, so we expect selective trading based on these results to intensify," Sawada said.

Investors also looked ahead to the Federal Reserve rate decision, due later on Wednesday, with markets pricing in a hold and a high probability of a December hike.

There were 86 advancers on the Nikkei 225 against 138 decliners. The largest percentage gainers in the index were Kioxia Holdings 285A.T, up 12.97%, followed by Taiyo Yuden 6976.T, 8.41% higher, and Ibiden 4062.T, which gained 7.00%.

The largest losers were Capcom 9697.T, down 11.80%, followed by Konami Group 9766.T, 6.76% lower, and Canon 7751.T, which lost 5.83%.