Tokyo stocks today: Nikkei starts 2026 higher as TEPCO, chip and defense names lead

Japan’s Nikkei 225, a price-weighted index of blue-chip shares, jumped about 3% on Monday in Tokyo’s first session of 2026 as investors chased chip and defense stocks and looked past U.S. action in Venezuela. “The market turned risk-on as if uncertainties and threats had been removed,” said Kazuaki Shimada, head of research at IwaiCosmo Securities. The Nikkei closed up 3.03% at 51,865, with Tokyo Electric Power leading gainers on a 9.23% surge.