Asian stocks muted as rate fears dull Nvidia hype; Nikkei hits record high
Investing.com-- Asian stocks were a mixed bag on Thursday as gains in the technology sector, following positive signals from AI darling Nvidia, were offset by persistent fears of high U.S. interest rates, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark hit a record high.
Regional stocks took a weak lead-in from Wall Street, after the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s late-January meeting showed the bank was in no hurry to begin cutting interest rates. A slew of Fed officials also echoed this sentiment in separate addresses.
But NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) surged as much as 10% in aftermarket trade, after its quarterly earnings beat estimates and the chipmaker forecast stronger-than-expected revenue in the coming quarter.
Gains in Nvidia spilled over into Asian chipmaking stocks, as the strong results and guidance highlighted improved demand from artificial intelligence development.
Japan’s Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857) and Taiwan’s TSMC (TW:2330) (NYSE:TSM)- both of which are Nvidia suppliers- rose 4.7% and 1.2%, respectively.
South Korea’s SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660)- which makes high-speed memory chips integral to AI development- surged 3.6%, while Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry (TW:2317), which builds some processors for Nvidia, rose 1.6%.
Other tech stocks also gained. Japanese tech investment giant SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:9984) rose 4.6%, tracking an aftermarket bounce in its British chip designing unit Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM), which is heavily exposed to the AI boom.
Gains in heavyweight technology stocks saw the Nikkei 225 jump 1.8% to a record intraday high of 39,001.50 points- crossing a 1989 peak, before the unwinding of a massive speculative bubble in Japan through the 1990's.
The Nikkei had curbed some
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