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Major equity indexes across Asia posted gains in early Thursday trading as investor confidence rebounded following a strong session on Wall Street. The rally was primarily fueled by renewed optimism surrounding artificial intelligence stocks and semiconductor companies, which reported better-than-expected earnings for the spring quarter.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index advanced 1.6% to 68,609.92, while South Korea’s Kospi surged 3.9% to 6,835.55. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up nearly 0.1% to 25,453.45, and the Shanghai Composite gained 0.4% to 3,961.82. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 bucked the regional trend, declining 0.6% to 9,155.80.
Wall Street’s performance on Wednesday provided the catalyst for the Asian advance, with the S&P 500 rising 0.3% to 7,748.50 for its first gain since reaching an all-time high on Friday. The Nasdaq composite climbed 0.5% to 26,588.49, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 21.58 points to 53,770.27.
Artificial intelligence stocks drove much of the market strength after delivering robust quarterly results that eased investor concerns about whether corporate spending on AI infrastructure could justify the sector’s dramatic price gains. The earnings reports demonstrated that major technology investors are realizing measurable productivity and profit improvements from their AI investments.
U.S. inflation data released Wednesday also supported the market advance, showing consumer prices rose 3.4% year-over-year last month compared to 3.5% in June. The deceleration reduced expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at its September meeting, prompting traders to scale back aggressive rate-hike bets.
The softer inflation outlook pulled the yield on the 10-year Treasury down to 4.68% from 4.70% late Tuesday, though it remains substantially above the 3.97% level recorded before Middle East tensions intensified oil prices. Benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.07 to $82.20 per barrel, while Brent crude declined $1.01 to $87.97.
In currency markets, the U.S. dollar edged up to 159.43 Japanese yen from 159.41, while the euro declined slightly to $1.1525 from $1.1527.
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