The Nikkei 225 stock average ended the week near the historic highs hit Thursday, with investors still optimistic that a ceasefire in the Middle East might hold and peace could break out.
It closed at 62,713.65, down 0.2% on Friday. The benchmark rallied 5.6% a day earlier and reached 63,091.14, the new record, in the afternoon.
The mood cooled on Friday in part because of weak trading overnight in the United States. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.63%, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX), which measures the performance of the 30 largest U.S. semiconductor-related stocks, declined 2.72%.
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