Landscape of Songdo International City. Incheon, South Korea.
Photograph By Kangheewan. | Moment | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets rose Wednesday after Wall Street rose on the back of a tech rally, led by chipmaker Nvidia.
Shares in the artificial intelligence darling advanced nearly 3%, extending Monday’s gains and driving Nvidia’s market-cap past Microsoft‘s for the first time since January. Chip companies Broadcom and and Micron Technology rose more than 3% and 4%, respectively.
South Korean markets led gains in the region, resuming trade after opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung was elected president.
The Kospi index popped 1.57% to hit a 10-month high, while the small-cap Kosdaq advanced 1.06%.
Over in Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 started the day 0.83% higher, while the broader Topix index moved up 0.47%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.54% in early trade. Economists polled by Reuters expect the country’s GDP for the first-quarter of 2025 — due later in the day — to rise 1.5% year on year, from 1.3% in the previous quarter.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 23,397, pointing to a weaker open compared to the HSI’s last close of 23,512.49.
U.S. futures were little changed after Wall Street rose on a tech rally and a better-than-expected jobs report showing that the U.S.’ labor market is holding up despite concerns of risks stemming from tariffs.
Overnight stateside, the broad-based S&P 500 index added 0.58% to close at 5,970.37, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 214.16 points, or 0.51%, ending at 42,519.64. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.81% and settled at 19,398.96.
— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Sean Conlon contributed to this report.
