Nikkei 225 Index welcomes “AI-style blood exchange”: Capcom, International Electric and JX Metals entered the market, and three traditional giants including Konica Minolta were eliminated

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Nikkei issued a statement on Friday saying that game developer Capcom Co. (Capcom Co.) Chip equipment manufacturer Kokusai Electric Corp (Kokusai Electric Corp), and semiconductor materials company JX Advanced Metals Corp (JX Advanced Metals Corp) will be officially included in Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average (Nikkei 225 Stock Average) starting October 1. Meanwhile, truck manufacturer Archion Corp, office equipment giant Konica Minolta Inc. (Konica Minolta Inc.), and environmental engineering company Kanadevia Corp. will be removed from this benchmark index as part of this regular adjustment.

Nikkei said that Capcom, famous worldwide for its “Resident Evil” and “Monster Hunter” series games, was selected to ensure balance in the industry sector within the index; while the addition of International Electric and JX Metals is mainly based on market liquidity considerations.

The current adjustment of constituent stocks is expected to have a direct impact on relevant individual stocks — passive funds that track the index will carry out corresponding trading operations based on the adjustment results, causing stock price fluctuations.

Since this year, the Nikkei 225 Index, which has a high weight in technology stocks, has accumulated a cumulative increase of about 29%, mainly benefiting from the strong performance of chip-related stocks in the AI boom. The Nikkei index closed up 1.3% in the Tokyo market on Friday.

The Nikkei 225 Index is regularly reviewed twice a year (in March and September, respectively). The purpose of adjustments is to reflect changes in the market environment and maintain index representation. The index's stock selection is mainly based on two major dimensions: market liquidity — based on indicators such as turnover and price volatility over the past five years, the top 450 stocks have entered the “high liquidity pool”, and the top 75 stocks that have not yet been included will be added; industry balance — divides stocks into seven major sectors: technology, information and communication, finance, consumption, industrial materials, capital goods, and others, transportation and utilities to ensure that the number of constituent stocks in each sector matches the overall size of the sector.

Among the three companies excluded this time, Konica Minolta has continued to be under pressure in the digital camera and office equipment sector in recent years, and market value and liquidity have declined; while the newly included Capcom has benefited from the revaluation of gaming IP values and increased performance, International Electric and JX Metals have attracted market attention due to the boom in the semiconductor industry chain. This “blood exchange” also reflects the trend of the Nikkei Index leaning towards the high-growth technology manufacturing sector.