Hongdae street in Seoul city, South Korea
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Asia-Pacific markets rose as investor sentiment picked up on China’s announcement that it’s evaluating possible trade talks with the US.
Markets in the region also trailed gains on Wall Street after all three key benchmarks advanced overnight on optimism that a slowdown in the global economy will not impede the progress of developments in artificial intelligence.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 increased by 0.5%.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 1.24% while the broader Topix index advanced 0.67% in early trade.
Over in South Korea, the Kospi index was flat while the small-cap Kosdaq moved up 0.60%.
Futures tied to Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index stood at 21,935, pointing to a weaker open compared to the HSI’s last close of 22,119.41 on Wednesday.
China markets are closed for the Labor Day public holiday.
U.S. stock futures slipped as Wall Street digested the earnings reports of two so-called “Magnificent Seven” stocks – Apple and Amazon.
In extended trading, shares of Apple slid more than 4% after revenue from its Services division fell short of Wall Street’s estimates in its second fiscal quarter. Meanwhile, Amazon’s shares declined over 2% as the e-commerce giant reported better-than-expected first-quarter results, but released soft guidance for the current period as it navigates uncertainty around U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.
Overnight stateside, stocks rose as strong quarterly results from Meta Platforms and Microsoft – two Big Tech and “Magnificent Seven” stocks – eased concerns of a slowdown in artificial intelligence-powered developments amid the current macroeconomic uncertainty.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 83.60 points, or 0.21%, to close at 40,752.96. The S&P 500 gained 0.63% to end at 5,604.14, still slightly below its levels from before President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs announcement in early April. The Nasdaq Composite increased 1.52%, to close at 17,710.74 and wipe out the decline it experienced since April 2.
— CNBC’s Hakyung Kim, Sean Conlon and Brian Evans contributed to this report.
