Asian shares saw a mostly positive trend on Tuesday, aligning with gains in Wall Street stocks. South Korea's stock market rebounded significantly after experiencing sharp losses from a recent technology sell-off. This resurgence is evident as South Korea's Kospi index rose by 1.3% to 8,504.43, recovering from declines of 0.2% and 5.8% in the previous two trading sessions.
The recent fluctuations in the markets have been attributed to concerns over the sustainability of the AI stock boom that has occurred over the past few months. Despite these worries, major firms in South Korea, including Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, announced ambitious plans for investments exceeding $500 billion in the country's chipmaking and AI sectors. Consequently, shares of Samsung Electronics climbed 3.6% on Tuesday, while SK Hynix appreciated by 1%.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index increased by 0.9% to 70,116.82, benefitting from the ongoing AI boom as well. Notable gainers included chip equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron, which experienced a rise of 4.3%, and SoftBank Group, renowned for its investments in OpenAI, which was up 0.6%.
Conversely, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index dipped 0.8% to 22,836.39, while the Shanghai Composite index saw a slight gain of 0.2%, trading at 4,080.42. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 inched up less than 0.1% to 8,825.80. Taiwan's Taiex index performed well, surging 3.2%, while India's Sensex experienced a minimal drop of 0.1%.
Meanwhile, oil prices demonstrated a degree of stability following announcements from the U.S. and Iran regarding their intent to send delegations to Qatar in relation to ongoing negotiations. However, Iran clarified that talks with the United States had not yet been arranged. As a result, Brent crude, the international benchmark, traded 0.2% lower at $73.73 per barrel, which is near the pre-war levels observed in late February. The benchmark U.S. crude also saw a decline of 0.4%, settling at $70.49 a barrel.
On Wall Street, the previous day marked a return to gains after fluctuations. The benchmark S&P 500 climbed 1.2% to 7,440.43, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 0.6% to 52,182.74. The Nasdaq composite surged by 2.1% to 25,820.14, propelled by gains in major technology stocks. Noteworthy increases were observed with Intel rising by 2.7%, Micron Technology by 1.1%, Nvidia by 1.3%, and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) experiencing a notable increase of 3.4%.
In currency markets, the U.S. dollar rose to 162.18 Japanese yen, up from a previous rate of 161.94 yen, as the yen weakened further. The euro also saw a decline, trading at $1.1399, down from the earlier $1.1422.
