HONG KONG (AP) — Most Asian stock markets climbed Tuesday, following a positive session on Wall Street, with South Korea’s market recovering after two days of significant losses driven by a tech sell-off.
Oil prices found their footing after both the United States and Iran announced separately that they would be sending delegations to Qatar — though Iran clarified that no formal talks with the U.S. had been scheduled.
U.S. stock futures ticked upward in early trading.
South Korea’s Kospi index bounced back 1.3% to reach 8,504.43. The index had dropped 0.2% and 5.8% over the previous two trading sessions. The Kospi has been a strong performer during the global artificial intelligence boom, partly due to rising demand for chips from South Korean companies like SK Hynix. Shares of Samsung Electronics climbed 3.6% Tuesday, while SK Hynix rose 1%. On Monday, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix jointly announced plans for more than $500 billion in chipmaking and AI investments within the country.
Concerns about whether the AI-driven rally can be sustained have contributed to market swings in South Korea and elsewhere.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.9% to 70,116.82. Japan’s markets have also benefited from the AI sector surge. Chip equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron jumped 4.3%, while SoftBank Group — an investment holding company with a stake in OpenAI — gained 0.6%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped 0.8% to 22,836.39, while China’s Shanghai Composite edged up 0.2% to 4,080.42. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was nearly flat, gaining less than 0.1% to close at 8,825.80. Taiwan’s Taiex surged 3.2%, and India’s Sensex dipped 0.1%.
Oil prices dipped slightly in early Tuesday trading but remained close to levels seen before the start of the U.S.-Iran war in late February. Traders are keeping a close eye on diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the four-month conflict. Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell 0.2% to $73.73 per barrel, not far from the roughly $72 per barrel price before the war began. U.S. benchmark crude dropped 0.4% to $70.49 per barrel.
On Wall Street Monday, stocks rebounded after earlier declines. The S&P 500 gained 1.2%, finishing at 7,440.43. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6% to 52,182.74, and the technology-focused Nasdaq composite climbed 2.1% to 25,820.14.
Among tech stocks, Intel advanced 2.7%, Micron Technology gained 1.1%, Nvidia added 1.3%, and Advanced Micro Devices — known as AMD — rose 3.4%.
In currency markets, the U.S. dollar strengthened against the Japanese yen, rising to 162.18 yen from 161.94 yen as the yen continued to weaken. The euro slipped slightly to $1.1399 from $1.1422.
AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed to this report.
