Asian Markets Surge on AI Boom as Oil Tops $110

Asian equity markets climbed on Wednesday, driven by a strong performance in semiconductor stocks that followed gains on Wall Street. The rally in tech names helped offset broader concerns about high interest rates and corporate borrowing costs for data center construction.

South Korea’s Kospi index posted the day’s largest gain, jumping 6.8% to close at 6,023.73. The spike was fueled by memory chipmaker SK Hynix, which rose 11.4% to its highest level in two weeks. The company reported a record operating profit of 83.3 trillion won, or $62.8 billion, for the last quarter, marking a nearly seven-fold increase from the same period a year earlier. Samsung Electronics also contributed to the momentum, surging 9.1% ahead of its scheduled earnings report for Thursday.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index rallied 1.1% to reach 63,954.19. Semiconductor manufacturer Kioxia Holdings led the charge, climbing 9.6% as investors awaited its quarterly earnings release on Friday. The Bank of Japan is set to hold a two-day policy meeting on Thursday, where markets expect the central bank to keep its interest rate unchanged.

Other regional benchmarks showed mixed but generally positive results. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong recovered 0.2% to finish at 23,089.22, erasing earlier losses. Shanghai’s Composite index edged 0.5% higher to 3,666.50, while Taiwan’s Taiex advanced 2.0%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.3% to close at 8,847.30. India’s Sensex index fell 0.8%, though Jio Platforms surged 21% in its market debut following the country’s largest initial public offering.

The momentum in Asian markets followed Tuesday’s activity in the United States, where the S&P 500 rose 0.6% to pull within 1.2% of its all-time high. AI stocks led the advance, with Broadcom climbing 4% after announcing a $63 billion financing deal to help Anthropic access its XPU AI accelerators. CoreWeave jumped 7.9% despite its debt-heavy model for purchasing chips. Conversely, Boeing fell 10.7% after reporting a larger quarterly loss than analysts had projected.

Commodity prices also moved higher as traders braced for upcoming central bank decisions. Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 1.5% to trade at $111.10 per barrel. U.S. benchmark crude gained 1.6% to reach $101.46. In currency markets, the U.S. dollar slid slightly to 157.85 Japanese yen, while the euro dipped to $1.1118. The 10-year Treasury yield edged down to 4.99% as the Federal Reserve prepares to announce its latest rate decision later this week.