Rising oil prices could also weaken the yen by worsening Japan's trade balance and supporting the dollar. Combined with heavy positioning in AI stocks, the imbalance resembles conditions ahead of the volatility spike in August 2024. BofA expects Japanese stocks to recover towards the end of the year after clearing the near-term hurdles. They said attention could shift from semiconductor businesses driven by expectations of higher prices towards companies benefiting from growth in data-centre investment volumes. Related articlesJapan's stock market is facing these 3 hurdles in AugustThese 2 stocks are best positioned to benefit from higher uranium prices: analystMorgan Stanley CIO survey: Why AI hype isn't boosting 2026 IT budgets