A foreign exchange trader monitors exchange rates in front of a large screen displaying South Korea’s benchmark stock index (C) and the Korean won/USD exchange rate (R) in a foreign exchange trading room at Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, April 9, 2025.
Jung Yeon-je | Afp | Getty Images
Stocks in South Korea and Japan hit record highs on Wednesday amid gains in the region, following a tech rally on Wall Street fueled by easing. concerns about disruptions caused by artificial intelligence to select areas.
from Japan Nikkei 225 jumped more than 1.4% to a new high, while the Topix added 0.3%.
Similarly, South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.72% to cross the 6,000 mark for the first time. Index heavyweights SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics rose 0.6% and 0.88%, respectively.
The small-cap Kosdaq added 0.16%.
Australia S&P/ASX200 climbed 1.13%.
Hong Kong Hang Seng Index rose 0.39%, while the mainland CSI 300 added 0.49%.
Taiwan’s benchmark stock index rose 1.8 percent to hit a record high for the fifth straight session.
Bitcoin jumped around 2%, returning to levels of $65,000 after slipping briefly below $63,000 on Tuesday.
“The global economy appears to be on slightly stronger footing, as the effects of fiscal and monetary policy continue to support activity. Financial markets, however, have struggled to establish a clear direction amid several headwinds,” BMI said in a report released Wednesday, referring to recent AI-driven jigsaws, in addition to heightened geopolitical risks.
“We assign a 50% probability to a US-led military attack on Iran, which contributes to a high risk premium in oil prices and, to some extent, the strength of the US dollar,” BMI analysts said.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures added 0.61% to $66.03 a barrel.
Investors will also be watching for US President Donald Trump’s usual State of the Union address later today.
In the United States, stocks rose overnight, driven by gains in Advanced microdevices And software stocks. AMD shares jumped 8.8% after Metaplatforms announced a multi-year agreement with semiconductor company.
The new partnership involves the deployment of up to 6 gigawatts of AMD graphics processing units for AI data centers. Meta will also invest in AMD via a performance-based warrant for up to 160 million shares of the chipmaker.
This decision comes a week after Meta he said he used millions of them of Nvidia chips in the construction of its data center. Shares of chip darling AI rose 0.7%.
THE S&P500 advanced 0.77% to close at 6,890.07, while the Nasdaq Composite increased by 1.04% and stood at 22,863.68.
THE Dow Jones Industrial Average added 370.44 points, or 0.76%, and finished at 49,174.50. The 30-stock index was supported by a rise of almost 2% Home deposit actions after company results exceeded expectations for the first time in a year. IBM actions, which fell on the previous trading day due to the aforementioned AI fears, which also contributed to the Dow’s gains.
—CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Sarah Min contributed to this report.
