Asian Stocks

Renewed buzz over AI helped South Korean stocks gain 1.2%, with Samsung and SK Hynix both up over 2%

Attention is also turning to a high-stakes meeting between Donald Trump and Xi ​Jinping later this week

Japan's Nikkei was shut but futures rose 0.5%, while South Korea's tech-heavy index gained 1.1%

Traders also took their cues from a rally on Wall Street overnight, led by beaten-down tech stocks

Asian shares were mixed on Thursday after Wall Street closed lower following the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike decision for the first time in three years. US futures were higher. The quarter of a percentage point increase brings the Fed's key rate to a target range of 3.75%-4.00%, as it attempts to control US inflation that's been stubbornly above its target. Japan's Nikkei 225 index was 0.2% higher at 64,067.53. South Korea's Kospi gained 0.9% to 6,778.49. The Hong Kong Hang Seng fell 0.7% to 24,533.46, while the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.4% to 3,877.46. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.3% to 8,718.20. Taiwan's Taiex jumped 1.3%, while India's Sensex edged up 0.3%. On Wednesday, Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 dropped 0.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.2%, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite was mostly unchanged. Market reactions were "pretty much expected since the rate rise was also in line with market expectation," said Lorraine Tan, director

Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 slumped 0.5%, marking its second consecutive day of declines as the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond hit its highest level since 2007

Asian equities struggled as investors assessed rising oil prices, West Asia tensions and concerns over AI development ahead of key US and Japan central bank meetings

SoftBank, Kioxia, SK Hynix and other AI-linked stocks fell in Asian trade after Anthropic's Dario Amodei, Elon Musk and Sam Altman backed calls to slow AI development

With shipping through the strait and the Bab el-Mandeb under threat, analysts fear oil prices could stay elevated for a lengthy period, stoking inflation globally

Korea Exchange will extend trading in nearly all local stocks until 8 pm, seeking to boost foreign participation

MSCI's Asia-Pacific index fell 1 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei and South Korea's KOSPI dropped more than 1 per cent as investors weighed higher oil prices and the outlook for US monetary policy

Japan's ​Nikkei 225 fluctuated between gains and losses before edging up 0.2%, as the yen jumped ‌as much as 0.6% to 153.51, its strongest level since February 18

In Asia, enthusiasm for tech stocks saw Japan's Nikkei rebound 2.2 per cent, after losing a similar amount last week, while South Korea rallied 3.1 per cent

Asian shares rose as investors awaited key US jobs data, while the yen rallied 2.6% this week after Fed Governor Christopher Waller eased fears of a rate hike

Brent crude futures extended gains into a second day as trading resumed in Asia, rising 0.7 per cent to $95.34 a barrel after the US launched a barrage of airstrikes on Iran

Asian stocks fell as renewed US-Iran fighting pushed Brent crude above $90 a barrel, while hawkish Fed signals lifted bets on a September rate hike

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares excluding Japan was up 0.7 per cent, on track to ‌extend gains into a third consecutive day after Nvidia reported that quarterly revenue more than doubled

Investors awaited Nvidia's second-quarter earnings later in the day, with the focus on whether the massive AI spending boom is sustainable and can turn profits that will satisfy markets

Stocks to watch today: The offer for sale (OFS) by Hindustan Copper will open for retail investors today following an overwhelming demand seen on the first day.

The tech sector is holding its breath for Nvidia's results ‌on Wednesday; investors are aware how hard it will be for the chipmaker to meet lofty expectations