Asian equities climbed again Wednesday, tracking another record on Wall Street, as tech firms continued to enjoy a revival after a month-long rout, with confidence also boosted by the prospect of an imminent deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
After spending four weeks unloading their positions over fears that the AI-led rally had come to a shuddering halt, investors were piling back into the sector to extend a rebound that began in breathtaking fashion Friday.
Strong earnings and positive forecasts from market heavyweights including Amazon, Microsoft and data-mining giant Palantir have injected fresh interest in tech, helping overcome worries about massive spending on artificial intelligence and when that will see a return.
All three main indexes on Wall Street chalked up gains Tuesday, with the S&P 500 and Dow hitting records — while there were also new peaks for Paris, Milan, Frankfurt and Madrid.
That optimism filtered through to Asia, where Seoul — which has been at the forefront of extreme volatility in the tech sector over the past month — climbed more than four percent.
Tokyo, which has also benefited from the AI boom, was up three percent, while Taipei added a little more than that.
There were also gains in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Wellington and Jakarta.
The gains come as a relief to traders after a wave of tech selling, which was also linked to worries of higher US interest rates, saw Seoul fall more than 40 percent from its June record high.
The losses were led by chipmakers SK hynix and Samsung, which collapsed up to 50 percent from their own peaks.
Friday’s rebound — the Kospi surged almost 18 percent and SK hynix 30 percent — came on the back of bargain-buying and positive earnings among other things.
Gains have been helped this week by hopes that the US-Iran truce will be reset after weeks of tit-for-tat strikes.
Crude tumbled more than five percent Tuesday — and are down more than 10 percent this week — after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said a deal could be reached imminently with Tehran on re-opening the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic.
He told CNBC television that “I think there is a chance we may have a deal today or tomorrow to open the strait” — a key sticking point in ceasefire talks.
“I’d expect the energy prices to settle back down, which, as I said, will be good for the entire world.”
The Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude contracts fell again Wednesday.
“The past few sessions have been pivotal for financial markets, largely thanks to signs of diplomatic progress around the Strait of Hormuz,” wrote Julian Pineda at City Index.
