Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang endorsed the financial position of AI cloud computing provider CoreWeave, easing market concerns about financing pressures in AI infrastructure to some extent. Overnight U.S. stock indices closed higher, and Asia-Pacific markets broadly followed suit on Friday.
The Nikkei 225 Index rose about 1.7% on Friday, while the Topix gained 1.8%. South Korea's Kospi briefly expanded its early gains to 3.4%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.89%.
U.S. stock futures showed weakness, with Nasdaq 100 futures falling about 0.5% and S&P 500 futures roughly flat. Investors are awaiting a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Warsh later Friday at an International Monetary Fund event in Bangkok, looking for clues on the possibility of a rate hike in October.
Additionally, Indonesia's stock market plunged more than 11% after MSCI said it was considering downgrading the country and removing it from its global equity index, triggering a circuit breaker.
The U.S. dollar index was roughly flat, while spot gold edged down about 0.05% to around $4,168 per ounce. Brent crude slipped slightly by 0.1% to about $105.78 per barrel, and WTI crude fell 0.67% to around $97.32.
Asia-Pacific Tech Stocks Rebound, South Korea Leads Gains
Asia-Pacific markets broadly opened higher on Friday and maintained their gains.
Huang told Bloomberg at an event in Stockholm that CoreWeave's strength is improving every day, its financing costs are actually declining, and he does not believe the data center operator needs Nvidia to bail it out.
South Korea's Kospi briefly expanded its early gains to 3.4%.
The technology sector was the main driver of this rebound. SK Hynix rose 2.22%, and Samsung Electronics gained 2.86%.
According to Reuters, South Korea's Ministry of Finance said it would strengthen monitoring of market risk factors, stating that stock market fundamentals remain sound and that it will closely monitor the impact of stock market volatility on bond, foreign exchange, and short-term funding markets.
The Nikkei 225 rose about 1.7%, and the Topix gained 1.8%. SoftBank Group rose 1.92%, chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron gained nearly 2%, Advantest rose 1.89%, and memory chip maker Kioxia surged as much as 6%.
In addition, Japan's corporate digital transformation and IT software sector strengthened collectively. Management consulting giant BAYCURRENT hit the daily limit directly today, surging 17.25% in a single day and closing above the 10,000 yen mark, setting a record high since its listing.
The direct catalyst was the company's fiscal first-half earnings report released after the close yesterday, which showed operating profit grew significantly by 28.5% year-on-year, with growth accelerating markedly from the first quarter. The company also provided an ambitious plan to reach 500 billion yen in sales by the fiscal year ending 2031, far exceeding market expectations.
Japan's leading software testing and quality inspection company SHIFT also delivered strong earnings after the close yesterday, with extremely impressive guidance for the new fiscal year, prompting funds to rush in after the open today and driving the stock up 16.52%.
The consecutive blowout results from these two top industry leaders directly raised market profit expectations for Japan's entire software transformation and system integration sector. System integration giant Nomura Research Institute surged 7.09% in a single day, technology services giant Fujitsu rose 6.14%, and electronics and software solutions provider NEC also climbed 4.87%.
The largest risk point in the Asia-Pacific region came from Indonesia. MSCI said Indonesia is no longer suitable for classification as an emerging market, and the country may therefore be removed from global stock indices.
Shocked by the news, Indonesia's benchmark stock index plunged as much as 11% on Friday intraday, triggering a circuit breaker that paused trading for 30 minutes, while the Indonesian rupiah also edged lower. Indonesia's central bank subsequently said it would continue to intervene in both offshore and onshore foreign exchange markets to stabilize the exchange rate.
Indonesia's 10-year government bond yield rose 10 basis points to a two-month high.
Commodities and U.S. Dollar Trends
The U.S. dollar index was roughly flat, after falling 0.3% on Thursday.
Although U.S. September PPI recorded the largest monthly gain in four years and retail sales beat expectations, which should have supported a stronger dollar, the sell-off in AI-related assets triggered risk aversion, and funds flowed into U.S. Treasuries, pushing yields lower and instead weighing on the dollar.
Analysts pointed out that the dollar is deeply tied to AI capital expenditure, and once the market worries that AI investment has peaked, the dollar will be the first to bear the brunt.
In energy, Brent crude slipped slightly by 0.1% to about $105.78 per barrel, and WTI crude fell 0.67% to around $97.32. Nevertheless, due to rising Middle East supply risks, oil prices still posted a weekly gain, with the U.S. government's emergency reserve release plan partially offsetting the increase.
In precious metals, spot gold edged down about 0.05% to around $4,168 per ounce.
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