Hong Kong markets jumped almost 3% to lead gains in Asia on Wednesday, powered by energy and basic material stocks. Mainland China’s CSI 300, however, dipped 0.47% to end at 3,528.75.
Stock markets in the region mostly rose after key U.S. benchmark indexes hit fresh highs overnight as artificial intelligence chip firm Nvidia overtook Microsoft to become the world’s most valuable public company.
Shares of the chipmaker jumped 3.5% overnight on Wall Street and have surged 174% since the beginning of the year.
Investors in Asia assessed Japan’s trade data for May, with exports beating expectations. Exports grew 13.5% year on year compared with a 13% increase expected by economists polled by Reuters. Imports growth of 9.5%, however, missed expectations of a 10.4% increase.
Investors also digested the Reuters Tankan index reading which showed business confidence among large Japanese manufacturers fell to +6 from +9 in May. On the flip side, business confidence among non-manufacturers climbed to +31 from +26 in May.
The Tankan measures business confidence among Japanese corporations, and a positive figure means optimists outnumber pessimists and vice versa.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.23% to close at 38.570.76, while the broad-based Topix ended 0.47% higher at 2,728.64.
South Korea’s Kospi gained more than 1.23%, powered by a 1.75% gain in heavyweight Samsung Electronics, and ended the trading day at 2,797.94.
LG Electronics jumped 6.09%, while SK Hynix reversed earlier gains to fall 0.43%. The small-cap Kosdaq inched up 0.26% and finished the day at 861.17
The Taiwan Weighted Index closed the day with an almost 2% gain at 23,209.54, led by heavyweights Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp, which rose 2.27% and 4.03%, respectively.
In China, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said it would publish new measures to deepen the reform of Shanghai’s tech-heavy STAR market, according to a Reuters report.
CSRC chairman Wu Qing said the commission will strengthen regulation of high-frequency trading and over-the-counter derivatives.
India’s Nifty 50 was flat after hitting a fresh high at the start of the trading day.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.11%, ending at 7,769.7.
Overnight in the U.S., the broad market S&P 500 advanced 0.25% to close at a record 5,487.03, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.03%, also closing at a fresh high of 17,862.23. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.15%.
