Asian stocks advanced on Thursday on strength in technology and healthcare, with South Korean shares hitting record highs as local chipmakers rallied on optimism over more artificial intelligence development.
Regional trading volumes remained muted on account of a week-long holiday in mainland Chinese markets. Indian markets were also closed for a holiday.
Asian markets tracked some overnight strength in Wall Street, as investors largely looked past a U.S. government shutdown. The S&P 500 ended at a record high on support from healthcare and tech.
S&P 500 Futures rose 0.1% in Asian trade.
S.Korea’s KOSPI at record high as OpenAI deal sparks chip rally
South Korea’s KOSPI was by far the best performer in Asian trade, rallying 3% to a record high of 3,565.71 points.
SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660) and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (KS:005930) were the top boosts to the index, after they signed a preliminary deal to supply chips to artificial intelligence major OpenAI. The two will also build data centers with OpenAI in South Korea.
SK Hynix jumped 11% to a record high, while Samsung rallied 4.5% to a near six-year peak.
The two are the largest memory chip makers in the world, and will provide advanced memory for OpenAI’s Stargate venture– a $500 billion project to build data centers in the United States.
SK Hynix is already a key supplier of advanced high-bandwidth memory chips to the AI industry, with NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) ranking among the company’s biggest clients. Samsung was also recently approved to supply Nvidia with advanced HBM chips.
Strength in tech helped investors largely look past stronger-than-expected South Korean consumer price index inflation data, which could dent the Bank of Korea’s plans to cut interest rates further.
Broader Asian chipmaking stocks also advanced on Thursday. Taiwan’s TSMC (TW:2330) surged over 3% to a record high, while Japan’s Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857) and Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TYO:8035) rose 1.4% and 7%, respectively.
Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (HK:0981)-- China’s biggest chipmaker-- jumped 9.3% in Hong Kong trade, while peer Hua Hong Semiconductor Ltd (HK:1347) added 5.4%.
Gains in chips and tech helped Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rally 1.4%. The index was also boosted by gains in Chinese electric vehicle makers, which advanced on some positive third-quarter delivery figures from the sector.
BYD (HK:1211) rose 2.5% even as it clocked a decline in Q3 deliveries, while NIO Inc (HK:9866) surged 4.5% after logging record-high deliveries in the September quarter.
Focus is now chiefly on Q3 delivery figures from Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), which are due later on Thursday.
Singapore’s Straits Times index rose 1.1%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index added 0.3% on some strength in tech, while the TOPIX fell 0.1% after strong gains in the prior session.
Source :
https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/asia-stocks-rise-on-tech-gains-skoreas-kospi-hits-record-high-on-chip-rally-4267728
