Asian Shares Mostly Higher On Tech Boost
(RTTNews) - Asian stocks rose broadly on Monday, with technology stocks leading the surge amid renewed optimism in artificial intelligence infrastructure demand.
Investors kept a close eye on the situation in the Middle East after the U.S. and Iran exchanged fire in the contested waters of the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, fueling concerns over prolonged disruption to energy supplies.
Traders also grappled with signs of U.S. economic resilience and expectations of an interest-rate hike at the upcoming Federal Reserve policy meeting.
The dollar was on shaky ground in Asian trade as fiscal concerns overshadowed rate-hike bets.
Gold dipped to around 4,400 an ounce while Brent crude futures jumped toward $97 a barrel after Iran said it will announce a new restricted zone in the Gulf in the coming days.
China's Shanghai Composite index finished marginally higher at 3,932.70 after Beijing rolled out a package of capital injections worth about 360 billion yuan (US$54 billion) for the country's biggest banks and insurers. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.93 percent to 25,413.12.
Japanese markets rose sharply as bond yields steadied after recent surge and chip-related stocks followed their U.S. peers higher.
The Nikkei average climbed 2.12 percent to 66,399.84 despite growing expectations for successive Bank of Japan rate hikes. The broader Topix index settled 0.55 percent higher at 4,125.80.
Chip-testing equipment maker Advantest surged 4.2 percent and semiconductor equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron added 4.7 percent while memory-chip maker Kioxia Holdings soared 9.3 percent.
Kokusai Electric advanced 7.6 percent on news the chip gear maker would be added to the Nikkei 225 index from October.
Seoul stocks soared to close at a more than five-week high, with semiconductor shares leading the surge. The Kospi index jumped 4.61 percent to 6,995.39, extending its winning streak for a third consecutive session.
Hanmi Semiconductor, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix rallied 5-8 percent after OenAI released GPT-6 Astra, a new-generation model described as the company's most intelligent and aligned model to date.
Australian markets finished marginally higher as mining and energy stocks gained ground, offsetting losses in gold stocks.
Austal shares jumped 2.1 percent after the shipbuilder confirmed it had held preliminary discussions with U.S.-based Wildcat Infrastructure about a counterbid for its shipyards in the Unted States.
Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index slipped 0.22 percent to 13,942.83.
U.S. stocks fell on Friday while the dollar and Treasury yields rose as the release of much stronger-than-expected jobs data boosted the odds of a September rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
Data showed nonfarm payrolls rose by 162,000 jobs last month after an upwardly revised 21,000 jobs in July.
Economists had forecast an increase of 55,000 jobs compared to the loss of 23,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1 percent.
The Dow dropped half a percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid 0.3 percent and the S&P 500 eased 0.4 percent.
