Stocks bask in tech euphoria, Nvidia boom
stocks rose on Friday and put global markets on course for a week of heady gains as AI darling Nvidia's stunning results sparked a wave of record highs from Asia to Europe and the U.S., while the yen nursed losses on a range of currencies.
Nvidia surged 15%, adding a record $250 billion in market value on Thursday. The Santa Clara, California-based company's results supercharged a global AI-led rally in technology stocks, propelling the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrials, Europe's STOXX 600 and Japan's Nikkei share average to record highs.
Tokyo is closed for a holiday on Friday, with the Nikkei futures trading up about 300 points.
«The Nvidia effect has ripped through global equity markets and given fresh wind to markets that were looking ominously poised for a 3-5% drawdown,» said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone in Melbourne.
«Consider that Nvidia holds its highly anticipated GTC (technology) conference on 18 March — where they are likely to update the market on new products and innovations — so pullbacks in the stock should be shallow, and we could see buyers push price higher into that event,» he said.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.6%, bringing the weekly gains to 1.8%.
In a promising sign that Beijing's efforts to steady a market rout might be working, China's bluechips rose 0.4% on Friday and are set for a weekly gain of 4.0%. It has rebounded about 10% since plumbing five-year lows two weeks ago.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index climbed 0.8%.
«The markets
