TOKYO — Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed higher Wednesday, extending its recent advance as a weakening yen lifted bank shares and a late-session rally in artificial intelligence and semiconductor stocks helped push the market further into record territory.

The Nikkei 225 climbed 553.84 points, or 0.83%, to close at 67,524.06. The broader Topix index, which tracks a wider swath of the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Prime Market, rose 38 points to close at 4,139, marking a fresh all-time closing high for that benchmark.

Trading unfolded in two distinct phases during Wednesday’s session. In the morning, selling pressure tied to rising crude oil prices offset buying driven by yen weakness, leaving the Nikkei 225 oscillating without clear direction for much of the session. At one point, the index fell by more than 230 points before recovering, with nearly 60% of stocks on the Prime Market still advancing even during the choppier morning stretch, led by gains in automotive and energy-related shares. The morning session ultimately closed modestly higher at 67,040.18, up 69.96 points.

The afternoon brought a more decisive shift higher, as buying intensified in high-priced artificial intelligence and semiconductor-related stocks. That momentum was supported by a rise in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index overnight in the United States, along with continued strength in South Korea’s Kospi index, which itself surged sharply Wednesday on the back of blowout chip export data. The combination of those regional and international tailwinds helped drive the Nikkei 225’s afternoon gains, pushing the index to its closing level well above where it had stood at the midday break.

A weakening Japanese yen also played a significant role in Wednesday’s advance, fueling expectations for additional interest rate increases from the Bank of Japan and boosting bank stocks in the process. A softer currency tends to benefit Japan’s export-heavy economy by making the country’s goods more competitively priced overseas, while simultaneously raising the prospect of tighter monetary policy as officials weigh the inflationary effects of a weaker yen on import costs.

Despite the gains, overall trading value remained relatively subdued Wednesday, as investors adopted what market commentary described as a wait-and-see posture ahead of the release of U.S. Consumer Price Index data later in the day. That inflation report is widely expected to influence expectations for the Federal Reserve’s next policy move, and traders in Tokyo appeared cautious about committing too aggressively to new positions ahead of the release.

Wednesday’s close adds to what has already been an extraordinary year for Japanese equities. The Nikkei 225 has climbed roughly 57% over the trailing 12 months, according to recent market data, extending a rally that began building in earnest in late 2025 and has continued with only intermittent pullbacks through the first half of 2026. Earlier this year, the index posted a series of new record highs, including a 2.2% jump in late February that pushed the Nikkei to what was then a fresh all-time high, driven at the time by a tech-led rebound on Wall Street and a weakening yen following comments from Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about the pace of future rate hikes.

That rally has drawn comparisons to what some market commentators have described as a “golden age” for Japanese stocks, with the market posting weekly gains of more than 2,000 points on multiple occasions earlier this year. Much of that momentum has been tied to a combination of dovish signals from the Bank of Japan, sustained global demand for semiconductor and AI-related technology, and a weaker yen that has continued to support the earnings outlook for Japan’s large exporters.

The market has not been without volatility, however. Japanese equities, like their South Korean counterparts, have periodically experienced sharp pullbacks tied to swings in global risk sentiment, including bouts of selling linked to fluctuations in crude oil prices amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East. Wednesday’s morning session, in which early gains driven by yen weakness were largely offset by oil-price-related selling before the afternoon’s AI-driven rally took hold, illustrated how those competing pressures have continued to shape day-to-day trading even as the broader index has pushed to new highs.

Investors are likely to continue watching several key variables in the sessions ahead, including any further signals from the Bank of Japan regarding the timing of additional interest rate increases, the trajectory of the yen, and continued developments in the global semiconductor sector, which has remained a primary driver of gains across major Asian equity markets, including both the Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s Kospi, throughout 2026. With Wednesday’s U.S. inflation data also looming as a potential catalyst for broader market sentiment, traders in Tokyo are expected to remain attentive to how that report shapes expectations heading into Thursday’s session.

Yes. Corporate subscriptions are available for teams and organisations, with discounted rates as user numbers increase. Pricing starts from $1,625 + GST per user.
Get in touch
to discuss the right option for your organisation.

Business News subscriptions are used by executives, investors, consultants and professionals who need to stay informed and make better decisions about the WA market. When you subscribe you’ll get

• Unlimited access to WA’s most trusted business journalism
• Data & Insights — detailed profiles of WA companies, people, projects and deals
• MyBN — a personalised feed based on the companies, people and sectors you follow
• Special publications and industry reports
• Daily and weekly email newsletters

Data & Insights is a research tool built specifically for the WA market. It draws on more than 30 years of Business News reporting, updated regularly to reflect what’s happening now. Use it to:

• Look up detailed profiles of WA companies, including financials, directors and ownership
• Find decision-makers and track their career movements
• Research live and completed projects across WA industries
• Monitor deals, appointments and market activity
• Access industry rankings and league tables

Data & Insights is updated daily by our dedicated research team, which uses the latest announcements, ASX filings and editorial coverage to keep our person, company, list and project records up to date.

Business News welcome all opportunities to make our dataset accurate, complete and current, so if you have an update request, please email the team at
general@businessnews.com.au, and we’d be happy to assist.

MyBN
is part of every subscription. It’s your personalised view of Business News. You can follow the companies, people, sectors and projects that matter to you, and get a news feed and alerts tailored to your interests. You can save articles to read later and retain only what you need.

Only subscribers have full access to all content on the Business News website.

If staying informed about the WA economy is part of your job, and/or you’re looking for networking opportunities in WA, Business News is built for you.

Business News subscribers are:

• Executives and directors tracking competitors, clients and market movements
• Investors and advisers researching companies, deals and industry trends
• Consultants and professionals staying across sectors relevant to their clients
• Business owners looking for leads, context and market intelligence

Most Business News publications cover national or global markets. Business News is focused entirely on Western Australia, which means the journalism, the data and the intelligence are all built around WA companies, people and projects — not adapted from a national feed. Data & Insights, included with every subscription, combines more than 30 years of WA-specific editorial research with live business data. There’s no comparable product for the WA market.

The Morning Digest Email provides a comprehensive wrap of the major headlines, relevant to WA business, and includes with a snapshot of the overnight news covering oil, gold and ASX-listed companies.

The Afternoon Wrap Email focuses on the news covered by our team of journalists during the course of the working day, including exclusive stories and analysis, all of which relates to WA business and the local economy.

The BN Weekender Email contains a wrap of the Business News from the week that was, highlighting the top stories in each area of WA business.
Sign up for free.

We’re happy to help.
Get in touch
and our team will come back to you.

The moon’s shadow is sweeping across the Arctic and parts of Europe today, bringing a total solar eclipse to Greenland, Iceland and Spain, and for anyone outside the narrow path of totality, several major space agencies and observatories are streaming the event live and free online.

Today’s eclipse, occurring Wednesday, August 12, marks the first total solar eclipse visible from mainland Europe since 1999 and the first visible from the Iberian Peninsula since 1912. The path of totality crosses a remote stretch of northern Russia, Greenland, Iceland, a small corner of northeastern Portugal, and Spain, before ending near the Balearic Islands as the moon’s shadow meets sunset over the Mediterranean. A much broader partial eclipse will be visible across the northern United States, most of Canada, much of Europe and northwestern Africa.

NASA will host its flagship English-language broadcast beginning at 1:15 p.m. Eastern time, or 1715 GMT. The program will include live telescope views from multiple points along the path of totality, expert commentary and interviews with solar scientists, and footage from a NASA-funded WB-57 high-altitude research aircraft chasing the moon’s shadow to study the sun’s corona. NASA’s broadcast will be available across a wide range of platforms, including NASA+, the agency’s website, NASA TV, Amazon Prime, Facebook, Instagram, Twitch and X. NASA’s 2024 total eclipse broadcast reportedly drew more than 15 million concurrent viewers, and this year’s stream is expected to match or exceed that audience.

Several European institutions are also streaming their own coverage, with most broadcasts beginning between 17:00 and 17:30 GMT, or roughly 1 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Eastern time. The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias will begin its program at 17:00 GMT from Cerro del Otero in Palencia, Spain, connecting live with telescopes recording both the eclipse and the sun’s corona. London’s Royal Observatory Greenwich will begin its own presented stream at roughly 17:10 to 17:15 GMT, using a modern telescope to capture the partial eclipse as seen from the British capital, where NASA has listed maximum coverage at 91% of the sun’s disk.

The European Space Agency will launch its livestream at 1:30 p.m. Eastern time, or 1730 GMT, featuring expert commentary alongside a dedicated telescope feed from the Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre near Teruel, Spain, directly in the path of totality. ESA has scheduled totality at that location for 18:31 GMT, lasting approximately 1 minute and 21 seconds. San Francisco’s Exploratorium museum is also expected to begin its coverage around the same time.

Additional livestream options include the Virtual Telescope Project, which begins its broadcast at 1:20 p.m. Eastern time, or 1720 GMT, offering real-time views from robotic telescopes in Manciano, Italy, where a partial eclipse will be visible, alongside views from within the path of totality in Spain. The organization Time and Date has also scheduled its own YouTube broadcast and maintains a dedicated eclipse app that automatically detects a user’s location and displays local eclipse timing, circumstances and cloud cover forecasts, even for viewers well outside the path of totality.

For viewers hoping to watch from a mobile device, streaming guides recommend connecting to Wi-Fi ahead of time and searching “2026 total solar eclipse” on YouTube, where multiple live broadcasts from different organizations are expected to appear simultaneously in search results. NASA’s own streaming app additionally supports background audio, allowing users to listen to expert commentary while multitasking, and is available across most major app stores and streaming devices, including Roku, Apple TV and Fire TV.

According to eclipse path data, totality is scheduled to begin over Iceland at 1:45 p.m. Eastern time and reach Spain by 2:28 p.m. Eastern time, giving viewers a rough window for when the most dramatic phase of the eclipse, when the moon fully blocks the sun’s disk, will unfold across the path of totality.

The eclipse has also inspired unusual travel experiences. Spanish carrier Iberia is operating a special Airbus A321XLR flight, numbered IB1473 in reference to astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus’ birth year, departing Madrid-Barajas Airport in the evening on a route designed to maximize visibility of totality from the air. The flight will carry researchers studying the sun’s corona as part of the Shelios research program, and the aircraft is equipped with Starlink satellite connectivity, allowing Iberia to livestream the eclipse from the air via its own social media channels. Brussels Airlines is separately running a charter flight from Brussels Airport toward France, organized in partnership with the Urania Public Observatory, the University of Antwerp and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

Skywatchers hoping to extend their celestial viewing beyond the eclipse won’t have to wait long for the next event. The Perseid meteor shower is set to peak overnight between August 12 and 13, offering observers across the Northern Hemisphere a chance to see roughly 50 meteors per hour under clear, dark skies.

For anyone planning to view the eclipse directly rather than through a livestream, safety officials continue to emphasize that certified ISO 12312-2 solar filters or eclipse glasses are required for any direct viewing outside the brief period of totality, since ordinary sunglasses and homemade filters do not provide adequate protection.

Those outside the path of totality or hoping to avoid cloud cover can follow along through any of the confirmed livestreams, with NASA’s broadcast expected to serve as the most comprehensive single source for viewers across the United States and beyond.

Yes. Corporate subscriptions are available for teams and organisations, with discounted rates as user numbers increase. Pricing starts from $1,625 + GST per user.
Get in touch
to discuss the right option for your organisation.

Business News subscriptions are used by executives, investors, consultants and professionals who need to stay informed and make better decisions about the WA market. When you subscribe you’ll get

• Unlimited access to WA’s most trusted business journalism
• Data & Insights — detailed profiles of WA companies, people, projects and deals
• MyBN — a personalised feed based on the companies, people and sectors you follow
• Special publications and industry reports
• Daily and weekly email newsletters

Data & Insights is a research tool built specifically for the WA market. It draws on more than 30 years of Business News reporting, updated regularly to reflect what’s happening now. Use it to:

• Look up detailed profiles of WA companies, including financials, directors and ownership
• Find decision-makers and track their career movements
• Research live and completed projects across WA industries
• Monitor deals, appointments and market activity
• Access industry rankings and league tables

Data & Insights is updated daily by our dedicated research team, which uses the latest announcements, ASX filings and editorial coverage to keep our person, company, list and project records up to date.

Business News welcome all opportunities to make our dataset accurate, complete and current, so if you have an update request, please email the team at
general@businessnews.com.au, and we’d be happy to assist.

MyBN
is part of every subscription. It’s your personalised view of Business News. You can follow the companies, people, sectors and projects that matter to you, and get a news feed and alerts tailored to your interests. You can save articles to read later and retain only what you need.

Only subscribers have full access to all content on the Business News website.

If staying informed about the WA economy is part of your job, and/or you’re looking for networking opportunities in WA, Business News is built for you.

Business News subscribers are:

• Executives and directors tracking competitors, clients and market movements
• Investors and advisers researching companies, deals and industry trends
• Consultants and professionals staying across sectors relevant to their clients
• Business owners looking for leads, context and market intelligence

Most Business News publications cover national or global markets. Business News is focused entirely on Western Australia, which means the journalism, the data and the intelligence are all built around WA companies, people and projects — not adapted from a national feed. Data & Insights, included with every subscription, combines more than 30 years of WA-specific editorial research with live business data. There’s no comparable product for the WA market.

The Morning Digest Email provides a comprehensive wrap of the major headlines, relevant to WA business, and includes with a snapshot of the overnight news covering oil, gold and ASX-listed companies.

The Afternoon Wrap Email focuses on the news covered by our team of journalists during the course of the working day, including exclusive stories and analysis, all of which relates to WA business and the local economy.

The BN Weekender Email contains a wrap of the Business News from the week that was, highlighting the top stories in each area of WA business.
Sign up for free.

We’re happy to help.
Get in touch
and our team will come back to you.

7 Brew’s launch of its first mobile app this week places the rapidly growing drive-through beverage chain squarely within a strategy pioneered and refined by Starbucks, the coffee giant whose app has become a central pillar of its business, driving billions of dollars in sales through personalized ordering, loyalty rewards and customer data collection.

7 Brew’s app, which became available Wednesday, gives customers order-ahead functionality, full menu customization, and access to the chain’s previously unpublished “secret menu” of more than 20,000 possible drink combinations. Those features closely mirror the tools Starbucks has used for years to drive engagement, tools that have become a case study across the restaurant and beverage industry for how a well-executed app can reshape customer behavior.

Starbucks Chief Executive Brian Niccol has spoken extensively about the central role the company’s app and loyalty program play in its broader turnaround strategy. Speaking during the company’s third-quarter earnings call, Niccol outlined ambitious goals for rebuilding the brand’s customer service reputation, saying the company is “reclaiming it, one customer, one cup, one coffee house at a time,” as it works toward what he described as becoming “the world’s greatest customer service company.”

Central to that effort is Starbucks Rewards, the company’s loyalty program, which Niccol said is helping reinforce daily customer habits. “Starbucks Rewards is reinforcing the daily ritual and building more connection with customers,” Niccol said, noting that the program had grown to 35.8 million 90-day active members in the U.S. just four months after the company relaunched it, with members already advancing through the program’s tiered structure from its Green level up to Gold and Reserve status.

Niccol also pointed to specific app-driven promotions as evidence of the loyalty program’s effectiveness. He cited “Free Mod Monday,” a promotion allowing members to try a free drink modification, saying that one in three members who tried a new modification through the offer reordered it in the weeks that followed, illustrating how targeted, app-based promotions can convert a single interaction into a lasting change in customer behavior.

Industry analysts say the underlying mechanics of a strong beverage app extend well beyond simple convenience. Thad Peterson, a senior analyst who has studied restaurant technology trends, said mobile ordering functions as a kind of expanded capacity for a physical location. “It is a virtual extension of the line in the store, so more customers have access to the store so more sales can be made,” Peterson said, adding that apps also save customers time and effort by fitting seamlessly into daily routines, particularly for a habitual, everyday purchase like coffee.

Beyond convenience, apps also serve a critical data-gathering function for beverage companies. Domick Miserandino, chief executive of RTM Nexus, said the core value of an app for companies like 7 Brew lies as much in the information it generates as in the ordering experience itself. “Data and speed. The point of the app is to get all that customer data,” Miserandino said, adding that for a chain with a menu as complex as 7 Brew’s, an app also meaningfully speeds up service by allowing customization to happen before a customer ever reaches the pickup window, cutting down wait times at the stand itself.

That efficiency argument carries particular weight for 7 Brew, given the sheer scale of its menu. With more than 20,000 possible drink combinations, and no walk-up counter where customers can browse a physical menu board, the chain has historically relied on customers either knowing exactly what they wanted before reaching the drive-through speaker, or missing out on off-menu options simply because there was no practical way to browse the full range of choices in the moment.

7 Brew Chief Marketing Officer Nick Chavez framed the company’s own app in terms that echo Starbucks’ broader engagement strategy, describing the goal as making digital ordering “as personal and fun as the experience” customers already associate with the brand’s in-person stands. Like Starbucks, 7 Brew has paired its app launch with updates to its loyalty program, allowing members to bank points not just toward drinks but also toward exclusive merchandise, a structure aimed at keeping customers engaged with the brand between visits.

Whether 7 Brew’s app can replicate the scale of Starbucks’ loyalty ecosystem remains an open question, given the significant difference in the two chains’ size and maturity. Starbucks has spent years refining its app and rewards infrastructure across tens of thousands of locations worldwide, while 7 Brew, founded in 2017, is still in the midst of its rapid national expansion. Even so, industry observers say the fundamental strategy, using an app to combine convenience, customization and data collection into a single tool for building customer habit and loyalty, remains a proven playbook regardless of a chain’s size, one that 7 Brew is now positioned to apply as it continues its rapid growth across the beverage industry.

Yes. Corporate subscriptions are available for teams and organisations, with discounted rates as user numbers increase. Pricing starts from $1,625 + GST per user.
Get in touch
to discuss the right option for your organisation.

Business News subscriptions are used by executives, investors, consultants and professionals who need to stay informed and make better decisions about the WA market. When you subscribe you’ll get

• Unlimited access to WA’s most trusted business journalism
• Data & Insights — detailed profiles of WA companies, people, projects and deals
• MyBN — a personalised feed based on the companies, people and sectors you follow
• Special publications and industry reports
• Daily and weekly email newsletters

Data & Insights is a research tool built specifically for the WA market. It draws on more than 30 years of Business News reporting, updated regularly to reflect what’s happening now. Use it to:

• Look up detailed profiles of WA companies, including financials, directors and ownership
• Find decision-makers and track their career movements
• Research live and completed projects across WA industries
• Monitor deals, appointments and market activity
• Access industry rankings and league tables

Data & Insights is updated daily by our dedicated research team, which uses the latest announcements, ASX filings and editorial coverage to keep our person, company, list and project records up to date.

Business News welcome all opportunities to make our dataset accurate, complete and current, so if you have an update request, please email the team at
general@businessnews.com.au, and we’d be happy to assist.

MyBN
is part of every subscription. It’s your personalised view of Business News. You can follow the companies, people, sectors and projects that matter to you, and get a news feed and alerts tailored to your interests. You can save articles to read later and retain only what you need.

Only subscribers have full access to all content on the Business News website.

If staying informed about the WA economy is part of your job, and/or you’re looking for networking opportunities in WA, Business News is built for you.

Business News subscribers are:

• Executives and directors tracking competitors, clients and market movements
• Investors and advisers researching companies, deals and industry trends
• Consultants and professionals staying across sectors relevant to their clients
• Business owners looking for leads, context and market intelligence

Most Business News publications cover national or global markets. Business News is focused entirely on Western Australia, which means the journalism, the data and the intelligence are all built around WA companies, people and projects — not adapted from a national feed. Data & Insights, included with every subscription, combines more than 30 years of WA-specific editorial research with live business data. There’s no comparable product for the WA market.

The Morning Digest Email provides a comprehensive wrap of the major headlines, relevant to WA business, and includes with a snapshot of the overnight news covering oil, gold and ASX-listed companies.

The Afternoon Wrap Email focuses on the news covered by our team of journalists during the course of the working day, including exclusive stories and analysis, all of which relates to WA business and the local economy.

The BN Weekender Email contains a wrap of the Business News from the week that was, highlighting the top stories in each area of WA business.
Sign up for free.

We’re happy to help.
Get in touch
and our team will come back to you.