Asian stocks showed overall gains on Thursday, driven by strength in Japanese chipmakers following positive results from Micron Technology. Softer-than-expected U.S. inflation data has diminished expectations for another Federal Reserve rate hike this month. In Asian trading, U.S. stock index futures also saw an uptick, particularly for tech-heavy Nasdaq futures, while Wall Street closed mixed overnight.
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Japan's Nikkei 225 surged by 3.3%, propelled by chip-related stocks, while the broader TOPIX index increased by 0.7%. Notable gains included Advantest Corp, which rose more than 8%, Kioxia Holdings climbing 5%, and Tokyo Electron up about 6%. Micron (NASDAQ: MU) had projected first-quarter revenue exceeding analysts' estimates, indicating strong ongoing demand for memory chips driven by artificial intelligence.
The Taiwan Weighted index increased by 0.9%, supported by a 1.3% rise in shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC). Meanwhile, South Korea’s KOSPI rose 1.6%, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix gaining 2.5% and 3%, respectively. South Korean exports jumped 83.5% year-on-year, surpassing expectations, with semiconductor shipments hitting a record high due to increased global AI investment.
In contrast, India's Nifty 50 dipped by 0.2%, while Singapore's Straits Times Index climbed 0.4%. Chinese mainland markets remained closed for the National Day holiday, as did Hong Kong, with trading expected to resume on October 8.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 bucked the regional trend, closing nearly 2% lower. Reports showed that the country's goods trade surplus sharply narrowed in August, declining to A$495 million from a revised A$1.351 billion in July, falling short of economists' expectations of about A$2 billion. While exports rose by 3.7% from the previous month, imports increased by 5.8%. Additionally, Australia’s monthly inflation indicator accelerated to 4.0% in August, up from 3.5% in July, although trimmed-mean inflation remained at 3.6%. The data has directed attention towards the Reserve Bank of Australia's policy, especially following its most recent rate hike.