A currency dealer monitors exchange rates in front of a large screen displaying the Korean benchmark stock index (C) and the Korean won/US dollar exchange rate (R) in the foreign exchange dealing room of Hana Bank’s main branch in Seoul, April 9, 2025.
Jung Young Jae | AFP | Getty Images
Stocks in South Korea and Japan hit record highs Wednesday amid regional gains, following a tech-led rally on Wall Street spurred by easing concerns about artificial intelligence-driven disruption to some industries.
Japanese Nikkei Stock Average rose more than 2% to close at a new high of 58,583.12, while TOPIX rose 0.71% to 3,843.16.
Similarly, South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.91%, breaking above the 6,000 mark for the first time. The index ended at 6,083.86. Leading stocks in the index, SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, rose 0.6% and 0.88%, respectively.
The small-cap Kosdaq rose 0.02% to 1,165.25.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.17% to close at 9,128.3.
Hong Kong Hang Seng Index rose 0.45%, while the mainland CSI 300 rose 0.6% to 4,735.89.
Taiwan’s benchmark stock index rose 1.8%, hitting a record high for the fifth consecutive session.
Bitcoin After briefly falling below $63,000 on Tuesday, it rose about 2% and returned to the $65,000 level.
“The global economy appears to be holding up slightly, with fiscal and monetary policy effects continuing to support activity. However, financial markets are struggling to establish a clear direction amid several headwinds,” BMI said in a report on Wednesday, citing heightened geopolitical risks as well as the recent AI-driven whipsaw phenomenon.
BMI analysts said: “We place a 50% probability of a US-led military attack on Iran. This is contributing to a higher risk premium in oil prices and some strength in the US dollar.”
Investors are also evaluating US President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address.
“We’re negotiating with them. They want a deal, but they haven’t heard the secret word that we’ll never have nuclear weapons. My hope is to resolve this issue through diplomacy,” Trump said in a speech.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures rose 0.72% to $66.1 per barrel, while Brent crude oil futures rose 0.73% to $71.29 per barrel.
Stock prices rose in the US overnight, led by gains in Advanced Micro Devices and Software stocks. AMD stock rose 8.8% after Metaplatforms announced a multi-year deal with the semiconductor company.
The new partnership includes the deployment of up to 6 gigawatts of AMD graphics processing units for AI data centers. Meta also plans to invest up to 160 million shares of the chipmaker’s stock in AMD through performance-based warrants.
The move comes a week after Meta announced it was using millions of Nvidia chips to build its data centers. The AI chip darling’s stock rose 0.7%.
The S&P 500 Index rose 0.77% to close at 6,890.07, while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.04% to settle at 22,863.68.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 370.44 points, or 0.76%, to end at 49,174.50. Home Depot shares rose nearly 2%, supporting the 30-stock index after the company’s profits beat market expectations for the first time in a year. IBM’s stock, which fell the previous trading day as a result of the aforementioned AI concerns, also added to the Dow’s rise.
—CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Sarah Ming contributed to this report.
