Asian stocks were a mixed bag on Monday, with Japanese and South Korean markets leading gains on a rebound in technology shares, while China lagged even as data showed a mild improvement in local inflation.
Regional markets took some positive cues from U.S. stock futures, which rose on reports that a long-running government shutdown was close to an end. S&P 500 Futures surged 0.6% in Asian trade.
But Asian markets were still nursing steep losses from last week, following a rout in technology stocks on doubts over artificial intelligence-driven valuations.
Nikkei, KOSPI rise on tech rebound
Japan’s Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s KOSPI were the best performers for the day, rising 1.2% and 2.8%, respectively. Gains in tech also helped Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rise 0.3%.
The indexes were aided chiefly by a rebound in technology shares, as investors bought the dip in the sector following deep losses last week.
South Korean chipmakers SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660) and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (KS:005930) jumped 5% and 2.3%, respectively, while Japan’s Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857) and Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TYO:8035) added 3.9% and 4.3%, respectively. Taiwan’s TSMC (TW:2330) rose 1% in early trade.
In addition to bargain buying, chipmakers were also supported by comments from NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang, that the company was seeing very strong demand for its advanced Blackwell AI chips.
But concerns over AI-fueled valuations in tech were a major driver of last week’s losses.
Source : Investing.com