Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index climbed 0.9% above 67,000 on Thursday for a second consecutive session, reaching its highest level in six weeks as technology and artificial intelligence-related stocks advanced. The rally followed an upbeat outlook from Micron Technology and Google’s rollout of Gemini 4 Argon, its flagship AI model. A softer-than-expected US PCE inflation reading led traders to reduce bets on a Federal Reserve rate hike this month, although higher oil prices and bond yields continued to weigh on the outlook. Japanese central bank data also showed manufacturing sentiment improved in the third quarter to its strongest level in more than eight years. Kioxia Holdings, Advantest, SoftBank Group, Taiyo Yuden and Murata Manufacturing were among the notable gainers.