Asian Markets Rally 5.6% as AI Sector Leads Global Rebound

Asian stock markets opened higher on Wednesday, following a strong session on Wall Street where artificial intelligence shares drove overall gains. Investors in the region focused heavily on semiconductor performance after U.S. tech stocks helped pull the S&P 500 closer to its all-time high.

South Korea’s Kospi index led the regional advance, climbing 5.6% to reach 5,952.41 in early trading. The surge was fueled by memory chipmaker SK Hynix, which jumped 7% to its highest level in two weeks. The company reported a record operating profit of 83.3 trillion won, or $62.8 billion, for the final quarter. This figure represented a nearly seven-fold increase from the previous year and exceeded market estimates. Samsung Electronics also surged 8.5%, with the firm scheduled to release its third-quarter earnings on Thursday.

In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 1.3% to 64,094.51. Semiconductor manufacturer Kioxia Holdings climbed 9.6% as traders positioned ahead of its quarterly earnings report scheduled for Friday. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong declined 0.7% to 23,041.32, while the Shanghai Composite Index in China edged up 0.5% to 3,666.50. Other regional benchmarks included Taiwan’s Taiex, which rose 1.8%, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200, which gained 0.4% to 8,889.10.

Central bank activity remained a focus for global investors this week. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand surprised markets by keeping its benchmark interest rate at 2.75%. The S&P/NZX 50 Index in New Zealand edged 0.1% higher in response. In the United States, the Federal Reserve is scheduled to announce its latest interest rate decision on Thursday. Treasury yields held steady on Wednesday, with the 10-year yield edging down to 4.99% from 5.00%. Analysts generally expect the Fed to hold rates steady, following its first hike in three years last month aimed at slowing inflation.

U.S. consumer data released on Tuesday showed that consumer confidence improved in October, contrary to economist expectations of further weakening. This improvement comes despite recent pressure on shoppers from high inflation. In the equity market, Broadcom climbed 4% after announcing a $63 billion financing deal that allows several Wall Street firms to help Anthropic access Broadcom’s XPU AI accelerators and networking solutions. Nvidia added 0.9%, while CoreWeave, a cloud infrastructure company that rents out AI chips, jumped 7.9%.

Not all sectors saw gains. Boeing shares fell 10.7% after the company reported a larger loss for the latest quarter than analysts had projected. Oil prices moved higher in early Wednesday trading. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 0.4% to $109.82 per barrel. U.S. benchmark crude gained 0.5% to reach $100.37 per barrel. The U.S. dollar strengthened to 157.99 Japanese yen from 157.91, while the euro fell slightly to $1.1124 from $1.1127.