Most Asian stocks rose on Tuesday as technology stocks pushed higher on sustained optimism over artificial intelligence, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index hitting a record high in catch-up trade.
The Nikkei was also aided by reports that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi may call for an early election to further boost her government’s parliamentary majority– a scenario that will let her dole out even more stimulus spending.
Regional markets took a positive lead-in from Wall Street, where the S&P 500 hit a record high as strength in tech helped markets look past heightened concerns over a feud between the White House and the Federal Reserve.
S&P 500 Futures fell nearly 0.2% by 23:45 ET (04:45 GMT), with focus squarely on U.S. consumer price index inflation data due later in the day.
Nikkei hits record high on Sanae snap election report, tech rally
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was a standout performer on Tuesday as trade resumed from a long weekend.
The Nikkei rallied over 3% to a record high of 53,997.5 points, while the broader TOPIX index jumped 2.3% to a record high.
The stock rally was in part fueled by catch-up trade, and also came following local media reports that Takaichi was planning a snap election by as soon as February.
This in turn can give Takaichi much more headroom to approve policy, with the new prime minister widely expected to dole out more fiscal stimulus.
Bets on more fiscal spending helped investors look past concerns over a continued diplomatic spat between China and Japan, over late-2025 comments made by Takaichi on military intervention in Taiwan.
Asia tech extends rally, Hong Kong hits 2-mth high
Broader Asian shares advanced with technology squarely in the lead, as investors grew more optimistic about the sector’s prospects with artificial intelligence.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng outperformed on this trend, rising 1.8% to a two-month high. Traders piled into Hong Kong and Chinese tech stocks in recent weeks, as a flurry of upbeat listings by major Chinese AI firms drummed up sentiment over the country’s prospects in the sector.
GigaDevice Semiconductor Inc (HK:3986), the second Chinese chipmaker to list in Hong Kong in the past week, rallied over 50% in its debut on Tuesday.
Z.ai (listed as Knowledge Atlas (HK:2513)) and MiniMax Group Inc (HK:0100), two of China’s so-called “AI tigers” who listed in the past week, jumped around 5% each on Tuesday.
Among larger tech firms, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (HK:9988), Baidu Inc (HK:9888), and Tencent Holdings Ltd (HK:0700) rose between 1% and 4%, extending recent gains.
Mainland Chinese indexes– the Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and the Shanghai Composite– rose 0.7% and 0.3%, respectively.
Chinese electric vehicle stocks were standout performers on Tuesday, with major BYD (HK:1211) rising more than 3% after the European Union released guidelines through which Chinese firms could avoid import tariffs in the bloc.
Gains in tech boosted other markets. South Korea’s KOSPI added 0.6%, while Australia’s ASX 200 surged nearly 1%.
Singapore’s Straits Times index rose 0.5%, while India’s Nifty 50 index was flat in morning trade.
Indian consumer price index inflation read cooler than expected for December on Monday, drumming up bets for more interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank.
The reading in part helped the Nifty stem recent losses, amid growing concerns that the U.S. planned to hike its trade tariffs on India.
But analysts noted that the CPI data underscored growing weakness in the Indian economy, given that the country is still grappling with 50% U.S. trade tariffs.
U.S. lawmakers recently progressed a bill that could raise U.S. tariffs on India to as high as 500%, over the country’s import of Russian oil.
Source: Investing