Most Asian stock markets rose on Thursday, with China leading gains on renewed U.S. artificial intelligence optimism, while Japan’s Nikkei notched fresh record highs amid political turmoil at home.
Traders kept a close eye on U.S. consumer price inflation data due later in the session.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite index hit their second consecutive record closing highs on Wednesday, boosted by a rally in Oracle shares and other AI-related stocks.
Gains were also aided by expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut next week. U.S. stock index futures traded marginally higher in Asia hours on Thursday.
Japan’s Nikkei hits new record high after PM exit Japan’s Nikkei 225 index jumped over 1% on Thursday to hit a fresh record high of 44,288.47 points, reaching peaks above 44,000 points for the second time this week.
The move comes after Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba stepped down on Sunday following heavy election losses and growing internal party dissent.
This sparked expectations that his successor may pursue more expansionary fiscal and monetary policies.
Market sentiment was also supported this week by confirmation of a U.S.-Japan deal lowering tariffs on Japanese auto exports by mid-September.
Japan’s broader TOPIX index edged 0.2% higher, remaining just below record highs reached earlier this week. China stocks surge tracking Wall St gains; US CPI data awaited China’s Shanghai Composite jumped 1.1%, while the Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 advanced nearly 2%.
Chipmaking stocks rallied on renewed optimism over artificial intelligence demand after software firm Oracle secured multi-billion-dollar AI contracts, sending its shares sharply higher on Wednesday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index pared sharp losses to trade 0.3% lower, remaining close to a four-year high with sharp gains in the past few sessions.
The Hang Seng TECH sub-index, which retreated over 1.3% in early trade, recouped all its losses to trade flat, boosted by chip stocks.
South Korea’s KOSPI rose 0.4%, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index was largely unchanged.
Elsewhere, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5%, while India’s Nifty 50 opened largely flat.
On the economic front, data on Wednesday showed an unexpected easing in U.S. producer price inflation for August, strengthening the case for the Fed to cut rates by a quarter-point at its September 17 meeting.
The more widely-watched U.S. consumer prices data is due later on Thursday, and is expected to provide further clarity on how far and how fast the Federal Reserve might ease monetary policy.
