Taiwan stocks bounced back and South Korean shares reclaimed the key 4,000 level on Thursday, after chip titan Nvidia's encouraging results eased worries about a likely AI bubble that had recently gripped global markets.
The MSCI index of emerging Asia equities and a broader gauge of Asian shares outside Japan each gained nearly 1.3%, while the MSCI ASEAN index gained 0.3%.
Overnight, AI-darling Nvidia projected quarterly revenue far above Wall Street forecasts, with CEO Jensen Huang highlighting surging demand for its AI chips from major cloud providers and brushing aside concerns about an AI bubble.
That helped lift sentiment across Asian equities in a week of turbulence where investors questioned the sustainability of the AI rally and punished tech-heavy markets in South Korea and Taiwan, which slid more than 3% and 2% in the last two days, respectively.
South Korea’s KOSPI, one of the region’s top performers this year, climbed 3.3%. The benchmark is now up 69% for 2025.
Adding to the improved sentiment, sources said U.S. officials have privately indicated they may delay imposing long-flagged semiconductor tariffs.
Among index heavyweights, chipmaker Samsung Electronics gained 6.5%, while peer SK Hynix advanced 6.2%.
Taiwan stocks also rose 3.4%, snapping a two-session losing streak, with shares of TSMC, the world’s largest maker of advanced chips, climbing 4.7%.
Other regional markets also traded in the black, with shares in Kuala Lumpur and Manila up 0.3% and 0.7%, respectively, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.3%.
Thailand stocks advanced 1.5%, helped by a 6.3% rise in shares of Airports of Thailand.
Indonesia’s benchmark jumped 1% to a record high of 8,491.428 points after the country posted its first current account surplus in 10 quarters for the July-September period.
The surge follows the central bank leaving interest rates unchanged for a second consecutive policy review in the previous session.
Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo said the decision aligned with the central bank’s short-term priority of supporting the rupiah, which earlier this week hovered near a record low. Excessive volatility in the rupiah could harm trade, investment and inflation. The currency was down 0.2% on the day.
"We see some rupiah resilience but slight weakness towards 16,900 by end-2025. Authorities are aiming for currency stability and may delay rate cuts till next year if this persists," said Jeff Ng, head of Asia macro strategy at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.
Other currencies in the region were subdued against a firm dollar index. The Malaysian ringgit lost 0.3%, while the Philippine peso shed 0.2%. The Singapore dollar and the Thai baht were largely unchanged.
Source: theedgemalaysia