Landscape of Songdo International City. Incheon, South Korea.
Photograph By Kangheewan. | Moment | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets advanced Wednesday after Wall Street rose on the back of a tech rally, led by chipmaker Nvidia, with South Korean stocks leading gains.
Shares in the artificial intelligence darling advanced nearly 3%, extending Monday's gains and driving Nvidia's market cap past Microsoft's for the first time since January. Chip companies Broadcom and Micron Technology rose more than 3% and 4%, respectively.
South Korean markets rose as opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung won the presidential election. The Kospi index popped 2.66% to end the day at 2,770.84, hitting its highest level since August last year, while the small-cap Kosdaq advanced 1.34% to 750.21.
Lee's "election pledge has placed considerable weight on enhancing the value of the Korean stock market," John Cho, Korea equity portfolio manager at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, said in a note.
His plan to amend the commercial law, which will broaden the legal duties of board members to include protecting the interests of minority shareholders, will "encourage boards to make fewer value-destructive decisions and more value-accretive ones," Cho explained.
Looking ahead, he expects the incoming South Korean government to adopt aggressive fiscal stimulus to revive the domestic economy while also "pragmatically" handling international trade matters.
"We believe that the domestic economy is set to rebound from a low base in 2H 2024 / 1H 2025, and we continue to be positive on the globally competitive and uniquely positioned manufacturers, including HBMs [high bandwidth memory] for AI, health and beauty, and heavy industries," Cho added in a Wednesday note.
Meanwhile, Chinese and Hong Kong markets were little changed after U.S. President Donald Trump commented that it was ‘extremely hard’ to strike a deal with his counterpart Xi Jinping, as a trade stalemate fueled calls for the leaders to talk.
Mainland China's CSI 300 index moved up 0.43% to close at 3,868.74, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.6% to 23,654.03.
In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 climbed 0.8% to end the day at 37,747.45, while the broader Topix index rose 0.51% to 2,785.13.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 ended the day 0.89% higher at 8,541.80. The country's economy grew 1.3% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025, lower than the estimated 1.5% growth among economists polled by Reuters. The latest reading was unchanged from the previous quarter's 1.3% year-on-year growth.
Meanwhile, India's benchmark Nifty 50 and the BSE Sensex each advanced 0.29% as of 2 p.m. Indian Standard Time.
U.S. futures were little changed after Wall Street rose on a tech rally and a better-than-expected jobs report showing that the U.S.' labor market is holding up despite concerns of risks stemming from tariffs.
Overnight stateside, the broad-based S&P 500 index added 0.58% to close at 5,970.37, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 214.16 points, or 0.51%, ending at 42,519.64. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.81% to settle at 19,398.96.
The U.S. economic outlook "remains dimmed by tariffs, although the timing of the impact is now more delayed," said Preston Caldwell, chief U.S. economist at Morningstar.
"The deleterious demand-side impact from tariffs looks diminished for now, with financial conditions having improved and President Donald Trump evincing some willingness to respond to deteriorating economic conditions by pulling back on tariffs," he wrote in a June 3 outlook report.
The risk of recession in the U.S. now looks "closer to 25%," rather than the 35% to 40% assessed in April, Caldwell said.
— CNBC's Lisa Kailai Han, Sean Conlon and Sarah Min contributed to this report.
Asia-Pacific steelmakers mostly rise despite Trump's tariff rollout
Shares of Asia-Pacific steelmakers mostly rose Wednesday, after the U.S. tariff rate on most imported steel and aluminum doubled to 50% at 12 a.m. stateside.
Shares of Chinese state-owned steel manufacturers Chongqing Iron & Steel, Angang Steel and Maanshan Iron & Steel ended the day higher by 0.79%, 1.29% and 1.83% respectively.
Over in Japan, Osaka Steel shares were up 2.3%, while Yamato Kogyo closed 2.26% higher. South Korea's Posco Holdings moved up 0.61% while Hyundai Steel increased 0.73%.
Meanwhile, India's Tata Steel was up 0.54% while Jindal Steel and Power was flat and JSW Steel had moved down 0.84% as at 12.45 p.m. Indian Standard Time.
— Amala Balakrishner
Asian tech giants mostly rise following rally on Wall Street
Asia-Pacific tech giants mostly rose on Wednesday, following a rally in tech stocks on Wall Street overnight, led by artificial intelligence darling Nvidia.
In Japan, Renesas Electronics ended the day 3.52% higher, Advantest Corp, rose 1.92% while SoftBank Group climbed 1.07%. Meanwhile, Lasertec lost 1.69%.
South Korea's SK Hynix surged 4.82% while Samsung Electronics ended the day 1.76% higher.
Similarly, Taiwan's TSMC and Hon Hai Precision Industry — known globally as Foxconn — advanced 4.21% and 2.97% respectively.
Over in Hong Kong, the tech-heavy Hang Seng Tech index was up 0.45% as of 3.15 p.m. Singapore time.
Among the top movers were Meituan, which rose 3.15%, Xpeng, which advanced 2.15% and Nio, which had increased by 1.27%, according to LSEG data
Meanwhile, gains were also seen in shares belonging to Tencent, up 1.09 and Baidu, which increased 1.16%.
— Amala Balakrishner
Spot gold edges up as trade tensions boost the safe-haven's appeal
Spot gold rose Wednesday after falling in the previous session, as concerns over global trade tensions fester.
As of 12.32 p.m. Singapore time, prices of the yellow metal were up 0.24% at $3,359.87 per ounce.
Spot gold
Bullion — which is considered a hedge against political and financial instability — had fallen 0.8% on Tuesday.
— Amala Balakrishner
Australian stocks rise above 8,500 threshold to near four-month high
Australian stocks rose past the key psychological 8,500 mark Wednesday, trailing gains in Wall Street and other Asia-Pacific markets.
The 200-stock S&P/ASX 200 benchmark climbed 0.76% to 8,532.20 as at 12.57 p.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time, its highest level since Feb. 17.
S&P/ASX
Gains were broad-based and were seen across the energy sector — which rose on increasing oil prices — as well as financials and mining sectors.
Shares in Woodside Energy and Santos, two of Australia's top oil and gas companies, increased 2.48% and 1%, respectively.
Over in the financial sector, the big four banks were all trading higher — with shares in Westpac Banking up 2.25%, Commonwealth Bank up 1.21%, Macquarie Group up 1.03% and National Australia Bank up 0.86%.
Shares in major miners also moved higher, with Rio Tinto moving up 0.31%, BHP Group adding 1.09% and Fortescue advancing 2.21%.
— Amala Balakrishner
Taiwan shares surge over 2%
Taiwan's benchmark Taiex index surged 2.15% to hit 21,581.85 as of 11.10 a.m. local time, extending its gains for the second consecutive session.
The advance was led by the technology, energy, and basic materials sectors, according to data from LSEG.
The top three performers were Formosa Pharmaceuticals Inc, which advanced 10% and Hiltron Technologies and Jinan Acetate Chemical Co, which added 9.95% each.
Meanwhile, shares of tech giants Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Hon Hai Precision Industry — known globally as Foxconn — were last seen trading 3.58% and 3.53% higher, respectively,2.64
The iShares MSCI Taiwan ETF shows the index's moves:
iShares MSCI Taiwan ETF
— Amala Balakrishner
South Korean won strengthens following opposition leader's election win
The South Korean won appreciated on Wednesday, following opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung's victory in the country's snap presidential election.
As at 11.15 a.m. local time, the won had strengthened by 0.43% against the U.S. dollar to 1,371.80
The move also comes alongside a slump in the U.S. dollar, following uncertainty on U.S. President Donald Trump's upcoming tariff plans.
The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six major peers, was last seen down 0.05% to 99.181.
Other Asian currencies fluctuated sharply on Wednesday.
The Japanese yen gained 0.18% against the dollar to 143.91, while the Australian dollar slipped 0.05% against the greenback to 0.6464.
Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, the Thai baht strengthened 0.09% against the dollar to 32.59, while the Singapore dollar shed 0.05% at 1.2898.
— Amala Balakrishner
South Korean shares surge over 1% to its highest level in 10 months.
KOSPI index
Meanwhile, the small-cap Kosdaq index was last seen trading 1.4% higher; it has risen 10.46% since the start of the year.
Gains were broad-based across sectors, with strong moves seen in chipmaker SK Hynix, which rose 6.02%, SK Inc, which surged 5.63%, HD Hyundai, which gained 5.23% and Wori Financial Group, which advanced 4.92%.
Among the index heavyweights, Samsung Electronics was last seen up 1.06%. Shares of battery maker LG Energy Solutions increased 1.23% while Samsung SDI moved up 0.58%.
— Amala Balakrishner
South Korea's inflation slows to its weakest in five months
South Korea's consumer price index for May fell 0.1% from the month before and slowed to 1.9% year-over-year, data released by Statistics Korea showed Wednesday.
This marks its weakest pace of increase since December 2024 after rising 2.1% in April, and lower than the median forecast of 2.1% in a Reuters poll of economists.
This follows the Bank of Korea's decision to lower interest rates last week for the fourth time in its current easing cycle, to support an economic recovery clouded by U.S. tariffs.
— Amala Balakrishner
English (US) ·