Asian markets were predominantly higher on Wednesday, driven by a surge in technology shares linked to the artificial intelligence boom, while oil prices retreated after Wall Street set fresh records.
South Korea's Kospi jumped nearly 5 per cent to an all-time high of 8,457.09, with Samsung Electronics soaring 7 per cent. Taiwan's benchmark also rallied sharply. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 climbed 1.3 per cent to 65,816.62, breaching 66,000 for the first time intraday, lifted by gains for tech shares. Tokyo Electron shares rose 5.9 per cent and Advantest gained 5.7 per cent.
The rally followed a 19.3 per cent advance for Micron Technology on Tuesday after UBS analysts raised their price target on the stock to $1,625 from $535, citing strong demand for computer memory. Micron, now valued over $1 trillion, joins Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft above $3 trillion.
However, not all markets rose. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.7 per cent to 25,426.92 and the Shanghai Composite declined 0.2 per cent to 4,136.87.
On Tuesday, Wall Street reached new highs: the S&P 500 added 0.6 per cent to 7,519.12, the Nasdaq rallied 1.2 per cent to a record 26,656.18, but the Dow dipped 0.2 per cent to 50,461.68. Hopes for an end to the war with Iran, which has disrupted oil supplies, boosted shares of fuel-intensive companies like United Airlines and Norwegian Cruise Line.
Oil prices fell on Wednesday, with Brent crude down 94 cents to $95.73 a barrel and US crude dropping $1.35 to $92.54. Lower oil prices eased bond yields, with the 10-year Treasury yield falling to 4.48 per cent from 4.56 per cent. The dollar edged down to 159.28 yen, while the euro rose to $1.1636.
