(RTTNews) - Asian stocks surged on Monday as technology stocks recovered from last week's rout on AI-linked jitters and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's coalition swept to a historic election win on Sunday, clearing the way for more spending and tax cuts.
A weaker dollar lifted precious metals, with gold surging above $5,000 an ounce ahead of key U.S. economic data due this week, including reports on jobs, inflation and consumer spending.
Oil prices fell more than 1 percent despite escalating tensions between Tehran and Washington, with U.S. President Donald Trump calling for a regime change in the nation and Iran stating that it is not scared by the military deployment near the region.
China's Shanghai Composite Index rallied 1.4 percent to 4,123.09 ahead of January inflation and producer price data due later in the week. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped 1.8 percent to 27,027.16, with financials and tech giants leading the surge.
Shares of Chinese chip designer Montage Technology soared more than 50 percent in their Hong Kong trading debut following an initial share sale.
Japanese markets soared after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party secured a landslide victory in the House of Representatives election.
The Nikkei 225 Index briefly topped the 57,000 mark for the first time before closing up 3.9 percent at 56,363.94. The broader Topix Index settled 2.3 percent higher at 3,783.57.
Seoul stocks skyrocketed amid renewed confidence over the artificial intelligence (AI) industry. The Kospi soared 4.1 percent to 5,298.04 despite analysts advising investors to make wise decisions ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, which falls from February 16 to 18.
Samsung Electronics shot up by 4.9 percent on reports it will begin mass production of the world's first sixth-generation high-bandwidth memory (HBM), known as HBM4, this month.
SK Hynix shares soared 5.7 percent, Samsung SDI advanced 2.7 percent and LG Energy Solution added 2.5 percent. Leading cosmetics maker Amorepacific jumped more than 20 percent after reporting robust earnings for 2025.
Australian stocks ended sharply higher, led by mining, IT and real estate stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index rallied 1.9 percent to 8,870.10 ahead of a busy week for domestic earnings. The broader All Ordinaries Index closed up 2 percent at 9,131.10.
Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index finished marginally higher at 13,446.37 ahead of January business PMI, December visitor arrivals and first quarter business inflation expectations data due this week.
U.S. stocks surged on Friday as technology stocks recovered following several days of heavy selling on concerns about AI spending and disruption.
In economic news, U.S. consumer sentiment improved marginally in early February, while consumer inflation expectation for the next five years rose from 3.3 percent to 3.4 percent in February.
The Dow rallied 2.5 percent to close above 50,000 for the first time and snap a three-week losing streak. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surged 2.2 percent and the S&P 500 added 2 percent.
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