Asian Shares Rise After US Gains, China to Re-Open: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Asian shares rose after a renewed wave of buying in companies linked to the artificial-intelligence boom sent Wall Street benchmarks to new peaks. Gold and oil edged lower on a peace deal in the Middle East.
MSCI’s regional stock gauge rose 0.3% with tech firms such as Softbank Group Corp. among the winners. An index of US-listed Chinese stocks gained 0.9% as investors prepared for the reopening of mainland Chinese markets after the Golden Week break. The yen was little changed after touching its weakest level against the dollar since February, raising speculation about official intervention. The dollar edged lower after approaching a two-month high.
Gold fell, but still traded above $4,000, as traders took some profit after a scorching rally and on reduced demand for haven assets. Oil too retreated after President Donald Trump said Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first phase of a peace plan. US equity-index futures rose 0.1%.
The US stock gains suggest traders are looking past worries of a potential bubble in high-profile tech names that have driven the rally, instead focusing on corporate resilience and the restart of Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts. The optimism that’s powered equities since their April slump now faces a key test as earnings season begins.
“With price-to-earnings ratios for today’s tech giants still well below those of the tech firms at the peak of the dotcom bubble, we think the bull market remains intact,” said Mark Haefele at UBS Global Wealth Management.
Nvidia Corp. led the advance in US mega-caps as chief Jensen Huang said demand for Blackwell chips is “really, really” high.
Attention in Asia is firmly on China’s reopening after the Golden Week break, with investors weighing whether renewed enthusiasm for artificial intelligence can outweigh signs of soft consumer spending.
Holiday data showed households remained cautious. Spending was restrained, with cheaper road trips replacing flights and box office sales missing expectations.
The weakness in consumption comes alongside an artificial intelligence frenzy that sent global tech stocks to fresh highs while China was shut, fueled by firms touting OpenAI ties.
The CSI 300 Index has climbed for five straight months through September, its longest winning streak since 2017, led by enthusiasm over chip stocks after DeepSeek’s unveiling of an updated AI model and Huawei Technologies Co.’s plan to double output of its top AI chips. The gauge is up 18% this year.
What Bloomberg strategists say…
China’s return from a long break will help spur gains for Asian equities more broadly on Thursday after the overnight advance in the US. That will be especially the case if the PBOC leans against the recent USD surge to restore some calm to regional currencies, including the yen.
— Garfield Reynolds, MLIV Team Leader. For full analysis, click here.
In geopolitical news, Trump said both Israel and Hamas had agreed to terms for the release of all hostages held by the Palestinian militant group in Gaza, a major breakthrough in the US-brokered negotiations to end their two-year war.
With a slim economic calendar amid the US government shutdown, investors on Wednesday scoured the minutes of the latest Fed meeting, with officials showing a willingness to lower rates further this year, but many expressing caution driven by concerns over inflation.
The Fed is clearly not on a preset path and data dependency is now more necessary than before, especially as officials attempt to calibrate between conflicting goals, said Luis Alvarado at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
“We still expect two more quarter-point rate cuts by the end of this year, and two more next year,” he noted.
Corporate News:
BlackRock Inc. has requested to pull some money it invested in a Jefferies Financial Group Inc. fund with large exposure to the trade debt of bankrupt auto-parts supplier First Brands Group Inc. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. said it has established an in-house team for robotics, joining major global firms in a race to build AI-powered physical products. Tokio Marine Holdings Inc., Japan’s top property and casualty insurer, could spend more than $10 billion on acquisitions to boost its international business, according to Brad Irick, who co-heads the unit. HSBC Holdings Plc is proposing to acquire the rest of Hang Seng Bank Ltd. as the Asia exposed lender seeks to cement its presence in its key market of Hong Kong, valuing the target at $37 billion. SoftBank Group shares gained as much as 10% to hit a new intraday high after the firm’s agreement to acquire ABB Ltd’s robotics arm boosted expectations for its AI pursuits.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 9:57 a.m. Tokyo time Hang Seng futures were little changed Nikkei 225 futures (OSE) rose 1.4% Japan’s Topix rose 0.4% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5% Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.1% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1636 The Japanese yen was little changed at 152.67 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.1450 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin was little changed at $123,022.8 Ether rose 0.3% to $4,517.95 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.11% Japan’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 1.685% Australia’s 10-year yield declined five basis points to 4.31% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1% to $61.94 a barrel Spot gold fell 0.4% to $4,024.17 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Richard Henderson.
©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
